Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TECHNIQUES FOR TRADING COMMODIZTES ON A PRIVATE TRADING SYSTEM AND NOT
REGULATED BY THE
GOVERNMENT
CROSS REFERENCE TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application 60/100,407
entitled "TECHNIQUES FOR COMPUTER ASSISTED TRADING IN A CASH
MARKET FOR COMMODITIES," filed September 15, 1998, which is incorporated
herein in its entirety by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to trading in a market, and in particular to
techniques for expediting the completion and accurate tracking of sales in
such a
market.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Trading in commodities is known. A supplier of a commodity, the seller,
must be matched with a consumer of the commodity, the buyer. Buyers and
sellers
are trading parties, simply called traders here. Terms of sale have to be
agreed upon
between a buyer and a seller in the form of a sales contract, to which
principles of
contract law apply. Terms are either explicit in the contract or by default
found in
the uniform commercial code (UCC) or implied by industry practice or by past
dealings between the same two parties. Within time intervals provided by the
contract, payment must be made by the buyer in cash and delivery of the
commodity
at a destination must be performed by the seller.
Trade publications are known which provide information about the market in
a commodity and in which market participants may advertise.
Lists of traders assembled from some publications are useful in identifying
potential trading partners. Some lists may even be distributed as data on
computer
readable storage media.
The information available is not uniformly groomed for quality and may take
weeks or months to consolidate using conventional techniques.
The data on computer readable media may be in different formats that are not
processed by the same computer system application program (i.e., application
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software). For a trader to use this information together requires tedious and
error
prone manual steps, or substantial software development efforts. Thus the
information can not be combined easily using conventional systems.
Also because traders may be competitors, there are incentives not to select
one to be the repository of such information. The trader with the repository
would
have a tempting advantage over other traders. Thus each trader may have a
different
system, compounding the problems of assembling and using market information
coherently.
Lack of sufficient, accurate and timely information can impede buyers and
sellers from economically obtaining better matches. Better matches are those
that
supply more of the buyer's needs at lower prices, or absorb more capacity of
the
sellers at higher profits, or both. For example, using trade publications
which list
sellers of a given commodity, a buyer must make extensive calls to all
suppliers to
find the current set of suppliers that ship the commodity to the buyers
destination, or
else rely on the set of past suppliers. The buyer may miss a new entrant to
the
market with cheaper labor or shipping costs to the buyer's destination.
Even if the buyer knows all relevant sellers and contacts them all, the costs
of
multiple negotiations may exceed the cost benefits of obtaining the best price
rather
than the next most favorable price.
Also, costs of such negotiations are increased as each party must investigate
the financial stability of the other party and its capacity to perform
according to each
sales contract or group of sales contracts in negotiation.
Not only are individual sales contracts benefited by more accurate and timely
information, but marketing strategies developed by observing market trends are
aided. The decision to buy now or wait a week may be affected by the perceived
trends in the market. Such trends can not be computed and disseminated quickly
if all
the information upon which the trends are based are not already in some
compatible
form.
Some efforts have been undertaken to use computers to expedite trading and
the formation of sales contracts. In one prior art system (herein referred to
as the
irrevocable-buy-sell system), a computer is used to match bids to purchase
with
offers to sell commodity futures contracts.
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While this system reduces some negotiation costs and multiple entering of the
same data, it has some deficiencies. The irrevocable-buy-sell system does not
allow
the traders to review a bid submitted in response to their offers before
completing the
transaction. The irrevocable-buy-sell system automatically completes the
transaction
S when a match occurs between offer price /quantity and bid price /quantity on
a first-
come, first served basis without review or further input by the traders. Also
the
trading model is inflexible, no other method for selecting offers and matching
bids
are allowed. Furthermore, because the exchange deals only in intangible
futures
contracts, no provision is made for shipping tangible goods. Access to the
irrevocable-buy-sell system is granted to members of the commodities futures
exchange, so membership issues are handled externally to the automated system.
In another prior art system (herein referred to as the irrevocable-buy
system),
a computer is used to match irrevocable, conditional offers to buy with a
seller, and
to automatically complete the transaction. This again reduces some negotiating
costs
and some error-prone, multiple entering of the same data. As with the
irrevocable-
buy-sell system, the irrevocable-buy system automatically completes the
transaction
and does not provide for the buyer (offeror) to review a single or multiple
bids.
However, the irrevocable-buy system does allow a seller to view multiple
offers to
purchase. The irrevocable-buy system is inflexible in that it provides for
only one
negotiating model in which the buyer inputs an irrevocable, conditional offer
to
purchase and the buyer must accept the single bid returned that satisfies the
conditions of the offer. For example, the system does not support a
negotiating
model in which the offer is an offer to sell. As another example, the system
does not
provide a negotiating model in which there is an opportunity for the offeror,
the
buyer, to review more than one bid. As a consequence, the irrevocable-buy
system
does not allow a contract price that differs from the original offer price.
Thus, the
irrevocable-buy negotiating model is inflexible.
Another disadvantage of the prior art irrevocable-buy system is that it does
not provide access to a database of transactions for computing and
disseminating
trends or statistics in the market. Furthermore, the irrevocable-buy system
does not
address negotiations required for the shipping of goods. This is
understandable
because the system is designed primarily for the purchase of services such as
airline
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passage, hotel accommodations and banking services that do not involve
transporting
tangible goods.
There is still a need for a commodity trading system that provides timely and
accurate information to traders, that constructs sales contracts efficiently
and
flexibly, that provides for the shipment of tangible goods, and that tracks
the
transaction until performance by both parties is completed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing needs and other needs and objects that will become apparent
from the following description, are achieved by the present invention, which
comprises, in one aspect, techniques for assisted trading in a market for
commodities.
A non-trading central authority is designated. The central authority screens
entities
to identify authorized traders. If agreement is subsequently indicated by
input from
each trader of at least two contracting traders among the authorized traders,
then the
central authority automatically constructs a standardized sales contract for
the
commodity.
In another aspect of the invention, techniques for completing trades in a
market for a commodity involve a network and at least one client configured
for
connecting to the network. At least one server is connected to the network.
The
server has a server memory medium storing information related to authorized
traders.
The server determines whether the client is a trader client belonging to one
of the
authorized traders. The server then accepts input from the trader client. If
input from
the trader client of each of at least two contracting traders indicates
agreement, the
server constructs a standardized sales contract for the commodity in response
to the
input.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for using a computer to complete
trades in a market for a commodity includes a user logging onto a server of a
central
authority. The server determines whether the user is a trader among a
plurality of
authorized traders. The user then enters input onto the server. If the input
entered
indicates agreement, then the server constructs a standardized sales contract
for the
commodity in response to the input of each of at least two contracting
traders.
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In another aspect of the invention, techniques for supporting trades in a
market for a commodity involve a client memory medium for storing contract
information about a sales contract for the commodity. The contract information
is
received in a standard format from a server computer which constructed the
sales
contract. Then one or more client processors execute an accounting process
that uses
the contract information in the standard format.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of
limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like
reference
numerals refer to similar elements and in which:
Figure 1 is a flow diagram showing progression in time of steps performed
according to one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2A is a block diagram of a computer system capable of supporting an
embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2B is a block diagram of a computer network capable of supporting an
embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a block diagram of data files and processes running on a server
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4A is a flow diagram showing progression in time of some steps
performed in obtaining inputs from traders, as in block 132 of Figure l,
according to
one embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4B is a flow diagram showing progression in time of additional steps
performed in block 132 of Figure 1, according to the embodiment of Figure 4A.
Figure 5 is a flow diagram showing progression in time of steps performed
during construction of a sales contract in block 135 of Figure 1, according to
another
embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 6A through 6Z are images displayed on a client screen according to
one embodiment of the present invention.
Figures 7A through 7V are additional images displayed on the client screen
according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
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Figures 8A through 8T are further additional images displayed on the client
screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
Figures 9A through 9X are further additional images displayed on the client
screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
Figures l0A through 100 are further additional images displayed on the
client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
Figures 11A through 11X are further additional images displayed on the
client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
Figures 12A through 12Y are further additional images displayed on the
client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
Figures 13A through 13X are further additional images displayed on the
client screen according to the embodiment of Figure 6.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Techniques for completing trades of commodities in a cash market are
described. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation,
numerous
specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of
the
present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art
that the
present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other
instances,
well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to
avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.
Functional Overview
According to the present invention, a sales contract appropriate for the sale
of
tangible commodities on a spot, cash market is constructed more flexibly, or
with
fewer negotiating and other transaction costs, or more automatically than in
conventional systems, or with some combination of these advantages.
Figure 1 shows the steps according to one embodiment of the present
invention that leads to reduced transaction costs. Negotiating costs are
reduced by
replacing a large number of bilateral negotiations between all possible
trading
partners, with fewer negotiations between a central authority, established in
step 110,
and fewer traders, who are screened in step 120 before trading commences in
step
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130. The screening step 120 determines the suitability of entities to trade in
the
market; for example, the financial resources to back up short term credit for
making
purchases, or the milling capacity to support multiple truck loads of lumber
in a short
time interval for selling. Certain contract terms are essentially settled
ahead of time
during this screening process 120 and become part of a standardized contract;
for
example, payment terms and destinations for buyers, or shipping rates (prices)
to
various destinations for sellers. Only time-critical terms that must be
established
during a limited interval of time are left for negotiating at the time of
contract
construction. The traders are prompted in step 132 for specific inputs that
establish
those time-critical terms, and in step 135 a sales contract is constructed
based on
those prompted inputs. Relevant information associated with the transaction is
stored in a database in step 137.
The database (updated during step 137) itself reduces transaction costs.
Transaction costs associated with uncertainty by traders are reduced by
providing
market trends and statistics immediately, in a trends analysis process 160,
that relies
on the database. Transaction costs associated with accounting and managing
payments are reduced by exporting transaction information from the database to
an
accounting/payment system in step 140.
Contract flexibility is maintained by allowing a bidder to review multiple
offers, and an offeror to review multiple bids before completing their inputs
during
step 132. The offeror may be either a buyer or seller of the commodity, and
the
bidder must be a complimentary trader, either a seller or buyer, respectively.
Herein "trader" is a general term indicating a member company registered for
the services described herein, or the member's subsidiaries, employees or
agents of
any sort. In some embodiments, the various agents of the trader are organized
into
companies, accounts, and users, and a user authorized to buy or sell
commodities is
called a trader. This user is a trader in a narrow sense. Unless clear from
the context
to the contrary, trader is used herein with its general meaning.
The benefits proffered by this embodiment are funded by charging fees for
initial and continuing registration and for the buy/sell operations in steps I
30 and
140, and for the trends analysis in step 160. Thus, an important step of this
embodiment is payment by an authorized trader to the central authority in step
122.
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More details on the steps performed during the steps of Figure 1 are described
below.
Hardware Overview
Figure 2A is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 200 upon
which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system 200
includes a bus 202 or other communication mechanism for communicating
information, and a processor 204 coupled with bus 202 for processing
information.
Computer system 200 also includes a main memory 206, such as a random access
memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 202 for storing
information and instructions to be executed by processor 204. Main memory 206
also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate
information
during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 204. Computer
system
200 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 208 or other static storage
device
coupled to bus 202 for storing static information and instructions for
processor 204.
A storage device 210, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk, is provided and
coupled to bus 202 for storing information and instructions.
Computer system 200 may be coupled via bus 202 to a display 212, such as a
cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user. An
input
device 214, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupled to bus 202 for
communicating information and command selections to processor 204. Another
type
of user input device is cursor control 216, such as a mouse, a trackball, or
cursor
direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections
to
processor 204 and for controlling cursor movement on display 212. This input
device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g.,
x) and a
second axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane.
The invention is related to the use of computer system 200 for trading in a
cash market for commodities. According to one embodiment of the invention, a
sales contract is constructed and transaction information is stored by
computer
system 200 in response to processor 204 executing one or more sequences of one
or
more instructions contained in main memory 206. Such instructions may be read
into main memory 206 from another computer-readable medium, such as storage
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device 210. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main
memory
206 causes processor 204 to perform the process steps described herein. In
alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in
combination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus,
embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of
hardware circuitry and software.
The term "computer-readable medium" as used herein refers to any medium
that participates in providing instructions to processor 204 for execution.
Such a
medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,
volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for
example,
optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 210. Volatile media includes
dynamic memory, such as main memory 206. Transmission media includes coaxial
cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprise bus
202.
Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as
those
I S generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.
Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy
disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium,
a CD-
ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, any other physical
medium
with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other
memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any
other
medium from which a computer can read.
Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one
or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 204 for execution.
For
example, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk of a
remote
computer. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic
memory
and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local
to
computer system 200 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an
infra-red
transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector
can
receive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriate circuitry can
place the
data on bus 202. Bus 202 carries the data to main memory 206, from which
processor 204 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions
received by
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main memory 206 may optionally be stored on storage device 210 either before
or
after execution by processor 204.
Computer system 200 also includes a communication interface 218 coupled to
bus 202. Communication interface 218 provides a two-way data communication
coupling to a network link 220 that is connected to a local network 222. For
example,
communication interface 218 may be an integrated servicesldigital network
(ISDN)
card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding
type
of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 218 may be a
local
area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a
compatible
LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation,
communication interface 218 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or
optical
signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of
information.
Network link 220 typically provides data communication through one or
more networks to other data devices. For example, network link 220 may provide
a
connection through local network 222 to a host computer 224 or to data
equipment
operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 226. ISP 226 in turn provides
data
communication services through the world wide packet data communication
network
now commonly referred to as the "Internet" 228. Local network 222 and Internet
228 both use electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital
data
streams. The signals through the various networks and the signals on network
link
220 and through communication interface 218, which carry the digital data to
and
from computer system 200, are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting
the
information.
Computer system 200 can send messages and receive data, including program
code, through the network(s), network link 220 and communication interface
218. In
the Internet example, a server 230 might transmit a requested code for an
application
program through Internet 228, ISP 226, local network 222 and communication
interface
218. In accordance with the invention, one such downloaded application
provides for
transmitting data to the server from input by a user of computer system 200
through a
web page as described herein.
The received code may be executed by processor 204 as it is received, and/or
stored in storage device 210, or other non-volatile storage for later
execution. In this
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manner, computer system 200 may obtain application code in the form of a
carrier
wave.
Figure 2B shows a network system 290 suitable for supporting multiple
traders simultaneously trading according to the present invention. In this
embodiment each client computer 260 is a personal computing device running a
client application such as a world wide web (WWW) browser. For example, four
traders run browsers at each client 261, 262, 263 and 264 and log on, through
a
network 270, to the server 250. The four clients can communicate substantially
simultaneously with the server 250, entering or monitoring offers, bids, sales
contracts, or other documents available from the server using the user
interface on
their own client 260. Other clients, not shown, can join the communications.
When
a trader is done trading, the trader can log off the server 250 from the
trader's client
computer, eg., client 261.
The Central Authority
The central authority provides the benefit of reducing transaction costs to
establish a sales contract between two traders. This benefit is realized for
many
embodiments of the central authority. In one embodiment, the central authority
is an
organization with one or more of its functions performed manually by one or
more
human agents of the organization. Alternatively, as in the preferred
embodiment, the
central authority can delegate almost all its functions to one or more
computer
servers on a network. Figure 3 shows a server 300 having one or more
processors
(not shown) configured to perform multiple processes associated with central
authority functions. These processes run concurrently in a mufti-tasking
environment. In another embodiment, these processes are distributed over one
or
more different processors or one or more different servers (not shown) across
the
network. In the preferred embodiment, the processors of a central authority
server
are configured to perform a Screen applicant process 330, a Buy/Sell commodity
process 310, a Manage payments/accounting process 340 and an Interface with
public process 350. In the embodiment of Figure 3, a memory medium of the
server
stores a database 335 of authorized traders and a database 315 of trade
transactions.
These databases may be shared by the processes 310, 320, 330, 340 and 350.
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For example, in one preferred embodiment, a corporation serves as the central
authority for a restricted membership system to facilitate cash market
transactions for
the sale and purchase and physical delivery of wood products using the
Internet and
electronic technologies. This system is representative of the preferred
embodiment
of the current invention and is described in several documents. In particular,
this
preferred embodiment is partly described in an appended external design
document,
which provides many details on the effects of the processes running on a
central
authority server. This preferred embodiment is herein referred to as the Wood
Products System. The effects of the Wood Products System described in the
external
design document accomplish most of the functions of the central authority.
The step 110 of designating a non-trading central authority is accomplished in
the Wood Products System by the membership as part of the registration
process. As
a consequence of the registration process, the corporation of the Wood
Products
System has the authority to perform the functions of the central authority.
Screening Applicants
The central authority screens applicants which wish to become traders and
identifies those accepted into the system as authorized traders in step 110 of
Figure 1.
For example, membership in the Wood Products System as an authorized
trader is restricted to creditworthy wood industry participants who physically
produce and ship, or receive and consume, truckload or carload lots of wood
products at fixed permanent locations. This requires that the corporation of
the
Wood Products System investigate the credit or production facilities of the
applicants
or both. Such investigation reduces the investigations the traders themselves
must
perform during the time-critical creation of sales contracts. The corporation
of the
Wood Products System further limits membership to those industry participants
which agree to conditions to remain authorized traders. Such membership
conditions
include the following.
~ Members must sign a membership and services agreement.
~ Members must sign a payment and financing agreement.
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~ Members may terminate their membership on sixty days notice without
cause or thirty days after notice of amendments to the membership and
service agreement, or to the payments and financing agreement.
~ The corporation of the Wood Products System may restrict or terminate a
member's membership immediately upon the occurrence of an event of
default relating to the member.
~ Payment and financing are arranged through a separate entity herein
called the financial company of the Wood Products System. The
financial company of the Wood Products System may terminate a
member's rights under the payment and financing agreement upon 30
days notice without cause and immediately upon occurrence of an event
of default relating to the member, or at any time upon suspicion or notice
of improper or alleged improper conduct by the member.
~ Members bear risk of Wood Products System downtime.
~ Members must maintain acceptable credit, shipping, receiving, and claims
performance commensurate with existing industry practice and standards
to continue membership as authorized trader.
~ Traders and the corporation of the Wood Products System are each
responsible for following Wood Products System security matters.
~ There are no limits as to changes in price levels, movements of price, or
volume of bids and offers.
The corporation of the Wood Products System further limits membership to those
industry participants which agree to pre-established conditions for sales
contracts
constructed by the Wood Products System. In this embodiment, the pre-approved
sales contract terms include the following.
~ When membership is terminated, authorized traders must immediately
cease making offers or bids and must fulfill all prior agreements or
transactions in progress.
~ Once a sales contract has been constructed, sequential unconditional
obligations are created as follows:
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~ On day the ship date, the seller ships the complete quantity of the
agreed wood products, constructs the buyer's and seller's invoices,
and forwards proof of shipment to the financial company of the Wood
Products System.
~ By day after date specified in the bid (10 days or 30 days), the buyer
pays the amount on the buyer's invoice to the financial company of
the Wood Products System for same day funds settlement, whether or
not wood products are received or received in good order.
~ By day 16, the financial company of the Wood Products System pays
seller's invoice to seller for same day funds settlement, provided the
financial company of the Wood Products System receives proof of
shipment.
~ Buyer's invoices are free on board (FOB) destination at buyer's location
and include transaction fees, taxes and all costs to seller.
~ Discounts for prompt payment accrue to the f nancial company of the
Wood Products System at I% if seller is paid within 15 days (denoted as
1 % 15).
~ Discounts for prompt payment accrue to buyer at 1 % if the financial
company of the Wood Products System is paid within date on bid (10
days or 30 days, denoted I % 10 or net 30, respectively).
~ Transactions fees are paid to the financial company of the Wood Products
System for furtherance to the corporation of the Wood Products System at
I % of cost FOB destination, per thousand board feet (MBF) for lumber,
or per thousand square feet (MSF) for panel; and the transaction fees are
automatically included in rates and totals in the buyer's invoice
constructed.
~ Disputes between buyer and seller regarding wood products are separate
transactions between the buyer and seller.
~ Title passes from seller to buyer at FOB destination.
~ Obligation of a buyer to pay the financial company of the Wood Products
System arises as of the date of the relevant buyer's invoice; obligation of
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the financial company of the Wood Products System to pay seller arises
as of the date of the seller's invoice; the dates of both invoices should be
the same and also be the date of shipment.
~ Taxes are the obligation of the taxed trader.
~ Late invoice payments are events of default.
From the Wood Products System example, it is clear that the screening
process provides numerous complex contractual terms that bind the authorized
traders and reduce the number and complexity of negotiations that must be
performed in the time-critical environment of trades for commodities on the
spot
market. The inventors are unaware of any automated system that performs such
screening for authorized traders.
It is also clear from the Wood Products System example that the risk to the
seller is reduced by transferring the risk that the buyer won't pay to the
financial
company of the Wood Products System . This reduces the due diligence the
seller
must invest before consummating a sales contract with an unknown trader or new
market entrant and makes contracting more efficient. Therefore, in another
embodiment of the present invention, the seller agrees to be paid by a bonding
agent,
like the financial company of the Wood Products System , and the buyer agrees
to
pay the bonding agent. In one embodiment, the bonding agent and the central
authority are the same; in another embodiment the central authority and
bonding
agent are commonly owned, at least in part, as is the case with the
corporation of the
Wood Products System and financial company of the Wood Products System; and,
in another embodiment the bonding agent and the central authority are
independent.
To mitigate the risk, in the preferred embodiment the bonding agent
establishes a credit limit for the authorized traders. This credit limit
affects the sales
contracts the authorized trader will be allowed to make. For example, in the
Wood
Products System, financial company of the Wood Products System establishes a
credit limit for each member.
In another embodiment of the present invention, to offset the risk assumed by
the bonding agent, a pre-approved contract term is established during the
screening
process that calls for the payment of transaction fees to the bonding agent.
For
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example, in the Wood Products System, the risk assumed by financial company of
the Wood Products System is offset by the guarantee and indemnification of the
corporation of the Wood Products System, which received the transaction fees.
As part of the screening process, when a person attempts to log on to an
automated system, the person will be checked against a list of persons
associated
with authorized traders. If the person is not on that list, the person will be
denied
access. The transaction fee accrues to the corporation of the Wood Products
System, not the financial company of the Wood Products System.
The authorized traders are represented by organizations or individuals who
are their agents. It is possible that the various rights and services provided
to an
authorized trader by the central authority may be distributed non-uniformly to
the
trader's agents. For example, some agents, such as all the agents of the
central
authority and an accounting department of an authorized trader, may be allowed
to
review reports available from the databases stored on the central authority
but may
not engage in trades. Other agents may be able to engage in trades, by
providing
inputs for sales contracts, but may not prepare the invoices. Similarly, the
functions
of the central authority can be distributed non-uniformly among agent
organizations
and individuals. Therefore, in some embodiments of the present invention, the
rights
and functions of the authorized trader and central authority are distributed
non-
uniformly among their agents.
The database 335 of authorized traders shown in Figure 3 is used as the list
of
authorized traders in the preferred embodiment utilizing an automated system.
Where privileges of an authorized trader or central authority may be
distributed non-
uniformly, the database includes a list of agents for the central authority
and each
authorized trader, and for each agent indicates the functions that agent has
permission to perform.
The screen process is shown in Figure 1 before the payment of fees because
some elements of the screen process are performed then. However, the access
check
during log on can be performed after the payment of fees, step 122, and after
the
central authority sets system parameters, step I24, in other embodiments.
When an open network like the Internet is used to communicate between the
authorized traders and the central authority, security measures are r_ equired
as part of
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the screening process to keep out those who are not authorized traders. Any
form of
encryption technology known in the art may be used to enforce this aspect of
screening. In the preferred embodiment, the Internet is used, and encrypted
communications are setup between the authorized trader and the central
authority
servers when the trader first logs on, and used in all subsequent log on
sessions by
that trader.
Authorized Traders
The authorized traders are industry participants which have successfully
passed through the screening process. As described above, each authorized
trader is
represented by one or more agents. The permissions of each agent may be set
separately. Thus the functions described for an authorized trader may be
performed
by some but not all its agents. In the preferred embodiment, the central
authority
servers, such as server 300, use the authorized traders database 335 shown in
Figure
3, to determine whether a logged on user can perform the attempted function.
For example, in the Wood Products System a set of roles are defined, each
role with a predefined set of permissions. When a user is entered into the
system a
set of one or more roles that user is allowed to play are associated with the
user.
When the user subsequently logs on, the user selects one of the allowed roles
and is
permitted to perform the functions associated with that role. In the Wood
Products
System the authorized traders are called members and the persons who are
allowed to
buy or sell are called traders. To avoid confusion, the Wood Products System
traders
are herein called trading users.
In the Wood Products System, when members are registered, information
about parent and any subsidiary or related companies are gathered. The
subsidiaries
or related companies may also be members or may be agents of the member. A
trading user is a person directly associated with one company, its employer or
contractor. Each company also owns one or more accounts, one account for each
location that ships or receives wood products. Any company that has an account
must be a member or have a parent company that is a member. Each trading user
is
set up with permission to perform trades on a predefined set of accounts that
are
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associated with either the trading user's employer or a related company or a
parent
company.
In the Wood Products System, a user is assigned one or more of the following
roles, with the associated permissions, as appropriate.
S ~ Wood Products System Administrator
~ Wood Products System Credit Manager
~ Wood Products System Accounting
~ Wood Products System Freight Book Editor
~ Member Administrator
~ Selling Member Freight Book Editor
~ Member Accountant
~ Member Supervisor
~ Selling trading user
~ Buying trading user
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Pay Membership Fees
In one embodiment, authorized traders pay membership fees above the
transaction fees to the central authority in step 122. These fees fund the
development
and maintenance of the system.
For example, in the Wood Products System, membership subscription fees
are based on an annual contract payable monthly. Buying traders pay $X per
month
per receiving location; and selling traders pay $2X per month per shipping
location.
In addition, an initial, one-time membership registration fee is paid by all
authorized
traders in the amount of $3X.
In another embodiment, another process performed by the central authority is
paid for separately. For example, in the Wood Products System, an authorized
trader
pays $0.6X per year for the market analysis results produced by a market
trends and
analysis program.
Set S r~stem Parameters
The negotiating model of the present invention allows much flexibility to
meet the needs of different commodities and markets. Some parameters of the
negotiation are not incorporated into the final sales contract but control the
sequence
and timing of the information input by two or more traders who are
negotiating. (We
call such negotiating traders contracting traders herein to signify their
intention to
form a contract.) According to one embodiment, these parameters are freely set
by
the central authority upon notice to the authorized traders. These parameters
can be
set by the Buy/Sell commodity process 310 in Figure 3, or by the Screen
applicants
process 330, or by the Manage payments/accounting process 340, or by a
separate
process, not shown.
For example, in the Wood Products System, system parameters include date
format (year-month-day), time format (24 hour clock, hr:min), time standard
(clock
at the corporation of the Wood Products System , Chicago, Central standard or
Central daylight time), trading times (7:00 to 19:00) and trading dates (e.g.,
July 4
but not December 25). Other system parameters include offer expiration times
(30
minutes), bid expiration times (30 minutes), currency exchange rate (input
daily),
monitor refresh interval for displaying current offers and bids (3 minutes),
trends
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refresh interval for displaying updated market trends and statistics
computations (20
minutes), session timeout for logging a member off after prolonged inactivity,
minimum buy bid as a percentage of the FOB destination price presented to the
buyer (65%), and acceptable footage variance between the actual quantity
shipped by
the seller and the quantity on the seller's original offer as a percentage of
the quantity
on the original offer (e.g., 2%). System parameters related to security
include
password expiration time (e.g., 60 days), password minimum length (e.g., 8
characters), password maximum length (e.g., 30 characters), login fail
tolerance for
the number of times a user can attempt to log on with an incorrect password
before
the user is locked out (e.g., 3 tries), and suspension period before
termination (e.g.,
30 days).
Store Shipping Rate Data In Database
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the offers or bids
presented to a buyer include the shipping rate and total freight costs. For
example, in
the Wood Products System the FOB Destination Price is the buyer's equivalent
offer
price which is the bid price including freight (i.e., the seller's offer price
plus
freight). Price is given as a cost per unit of quantity for the commodity,
such as per
thousand board feet (MBF) or per thousand square feet (MSF, or SM). This price
element is typically provided by a seller depending on the shipping location
and
destination location. To speed the computation and conversion between seller's
prices and buyer's prices, a database is maintained of data for shipping
prices. This
database 312 is shown within the Buy/Sell commodity process 310 on the server
300
in Figure 3, because the database 312 is used and controlled by that process
in the
preferred embodiment. In other embodiments, the database can be stored at any
server of the central authority or in a shared portion of the memory medium.
In step 131 of Figure 1, the shipping rate database 312 is updated, either
during an initial load, or by importing updates from some source off the
central
authority, or by directly editing the database at the central authority. Note
that step
131 is depicted in Figure 1 within the general step 130 of buying and selling
the
commodity. This step need not be performed at each transaction, but all
freight data
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changes should be incorporated into the database 3I 2 some time before the
next sales
contract is constructed in step 135.
The shipping rate database 312 can be organized in any manner known in the
art. Alternatively, in the preferred embodiment, there is a database table for
each
shipping location of each authorized shipping trader. Each table includes a
Iist of
destinations and for each destination there is a price corresponding to a
price per
load. The number of MBF or MSF per load, needed to compute the freight cost,
is
an input by the seller during the time-critical negotiations to construct a
sales
contract, or can be derived from the average capacity for the commodity of the
transport type input by the seller at the time of the negotiations. If a
destination is not
listed in that table, then that seller location does not ship wood products to
that
destination.
For example, in the Wood Products System a Freight Book database is
maintained that contains freight rates for a selling member from each mill to
each
destination that the mill ships to. For each mill there will be freight rates
in only one
currency, Canadian currency for Canadian mills shipping to Canadian
destinations,
and U.S. currency for U.S. mills shipping to Canadian destinations or U.S. or
Canadian mills shipping to U.S. destinations. The Freight Book destinations
are
organized by major hubs and minor hubs. Major hubs are large named areas
defined
by the corporation of the Wood Products System and listed in a Master Freight
Book.
Each major hub will be associated with one or more minor hubs including at
least
municipalities in North America having populations in excess of 2,000 people.
Additional minor hubs are added to the Master Freight Book as new buyer
locations
demand upon a request made to the Wood Products System administrators. Hubs
are
added to a seller's Freight Book from the Master Freight Book only as that
mill
begins shipping to new locations involving those hubs. For any minor hub, the
Freight book will list one or more transport modes which determine the size of
a load
and an associated rate.
The arrangement of major hubs, minor hubs, and shipping rates per load by
carrier type in the preferred embodiment shows more understanding of the needs
of a
commodity market and provides a more efficient retrieval of information for
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computation of costs applied to offers and bids in that market, than is shown
or
provided by any other freight rate database known to the inventors.
Inputs From Authorized Traders.
In Figure 1, during step 132 the central authority obtains the time-critical
inputs from authorized traders needed for constructing sales contracts. This
process
is described in more detail with reference to Figures 4A and 4B where step 400
is
the preferred embodiment of step 132. These inputs can be obtained by any
mechanism known in the art. In the preferred embodiment, these inputs are
obtained
from the trading users operating separate client computers 260 connected to at
least
one central authority server 250 over a network 270 such as the Internet, as
shown in
Figure 2B. In this embodiment, the trading users are presented with world wide
web
pages configured as forms with data entry areas using state of the art world
wide web
browsers. The web pages naturally prompt the users for the necessary inputs.
Web
browsers that support web pages with such data entry areas including pull down
lists
are known.
In Figure 4A, a first offering trader of the authorized traders describes the
commodity that is the subject of the offer in step 408. Note that an offer can
be an
offer to sell or an offer to buy. If the offeror is a buyer which has several
payment
terms pre-negotiated with the central authority, the offeror must select one
of those
payment terms at this step.
For example, in the Wood Products System the offer is an offer to sell and the
commodity may be wood panel or lumber (boards). If the offer is for lumber,
the
following inputs describe the commodity at the time a sales contract is
desired.
~ Seller Account (indicates location of mill, payment terms, etc.)
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Width
~ Length
~ Trim or Tally
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
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~ Grade Stamped
~ Wrapped
~ # of Loads
~ Transport type (used to compute the average number of board feet per ~oad)
~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Board Footage
~ Unit Size
Other information optionally input at the time of the offer includes whether
Bar Coding or Tarping is available on a load. If not input, Wood Products
SystemTM
will default to "No" for both of these fields. If a bar coding charge and
tarping
charge are registered in the Member Information File, this charge will be
calculated
into the final cost of goods on the sales contract and invoice if those
options are
made available.
If the offer in the Wood Products System is for panel, different inputs
describe the commodity at the time a sales contract is desired. The panel
description
inputs don't require trim/tally or surface or moisture or grade stamped or
wrapped
values, but do require profile, and size instead of width and length, and
square
footage instead of board footage.
In step 410, the first trader inputs an offer price. If the offer is an offer
to sell,
the offer price would be the target price the seller wants to obtain upon
loading the
described commodity onto a vehicle ready to ship, the FOB seller location
price,
before any transaction fees, shipment costs, discounts or taxes. If the offer
is an offer
to buy, the offer price would be the target price on a vehicle at the location
of the
buyer, after any transaction fees and shipping costs but before any discounts
or taxes,
the FOB destination price. The price is preferably in cost per unit quantity
of the
commodity, so that the offeror can compare bids for different quantities.
Total cost of
the offer can be computed by the central authority from the information input
by the
offeror and the databases such as the authorized traders database 335 and the
shipping rate database 312. For example, in the Wood Products System the offer
price is one of the US and Canadian FOB Mill Prices.
In step 411, the central authority determines whether the offering trader has
the resources to perform the terms of the offer, according to the best
information
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available to the central authority. For example, the central authority
determines
whether the trader making an offer to buy has uncommitted credit remaining
under
the trader's credit limit. If not, the central authority does not permit an
offer to be
constructed and the input phase concludes without an offer or a sales
contract, as
indicated by the no trade step 405. In the preferred embodiment, the buyer is
notified
when the buyer cannot afford to make the described purchase. If the buying
trader
does have the resources required to perform according to the offer, then the
offer is
made available during subsequent steps. In the preferred embodiment, the offer
made is given an offer identification number (offer ID).
To make the determination of sufficient uncommitted credit within the credit
limit, in the preferred embodiment, the central authority maintains totals of
committed buys for each authorized trader and its agents in the authorized
traders
database 335 in Figure 3. In alternative embodiments, this information can be
kept
in another database. In the Wood Products System, credit is considered
committed
1 S until a buyer pays an invoice or until there is a cancellation of a bid to
buy, or a sales
contract, or an invoice. When one of these events occur, credit is removed
from the
committed credit totals in the database.
In step 412 the central authority constructs an offer based on the inputs
received in steps 408 and 410 described above.
In step 413 The offeror can review and monitor the status of outstanding
offers using a monitor-offers web page described in more detail below. The
offeror
may decide to cancel an outstanding offer at any time. If the offer is
canceled, no
trade can be completed based on the offer.
In step 414 a complementary second trader, that is a buyer if the offeror is a
seller or a seller if the offeror is a buyer, inputs the criteria for a search
of offers.
(Non complementary traders can enter search criteria at this or any other
time, but
such actions are not relevant for the sequence depicted in Figures 4A and 4B.)
The
criteria include at least the second trader's role and target values desired
for some for
the descriptive quantities of the commodity. In the preferred embodiment, the
criteria includes a list of one, more or all complementary traders. For
example, in the
Wood Products System the search criteria for lumber offers include
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~ Buyer Accounts
~ Seller Name
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Width
~ Length
~ Trim (if other than R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
The Offer ID, profile, search by sellers and supplemental inputs are not
required but
may also be used as search criteria. Corresponding criteria are used for panel
searches. In another embodiment, unit price applicable to the second trader is
an
optional search criterion.
In step 416 a search is performed to find all offers that satisfy the search
criteria not involving price. Delivery to the buyer's destination is assumed
to be a
search criteria whether the buyer is the offeror or the searcher.
For each offer that passes non-price search criteria, the offer prices are
converted to presentation prices at the second trader's location which are
equivalent
to the offer price once adjusted for transaction costs and shipping costs
associated
with the offeror and the second trader, in step 418. If price is a criterion,
then the
presentation price of the offer is used to determine whether the offer
satisfies the
criterion. If price is not a criterion, then the offer will be presented to
the second
trader.
In step 420 all active offers that satisfy the second trader's search are
presented for the second trader. In the preferred embodiment, this
presentation is in
the form of a search-results web page displayed on the client computer 260 by
the
client's browser application program. An offer is active if it has not expired
and the
offeror is still available on the network, e.g., has not logged off. The
expiration time
of an offer is set by the central authority as described above. In the
preferred
embodiment, the offer expiration time is 30 minutes. In the preferred
embodiment a
trader is automatically logged off if the trader's client has been inactive
for a time
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exceeding a timeout parameter also set by the central authority and described
above.
In the preferred embodiment, the active orders are displayed one offer per
line, and
the second trader can obtain more details for each offer by indicating the
offer of
interest.
After the second trader has reviewed the available offers, the trader can
select
one to bid on in step 422, shown in both Figure 4A and in Figure 4B. For
purposes
of this description, it is assumed that the second trader has selected to bid
on the offer
constructed above by the first trader. The bid can be a bid to purchase a
commodity
in an offer to sell; or the bid can be a bid to sell the commodity to satisfy
an offer to
buy. In the preferred embodiment, the bidder indicates the offer on which to
bid by
clicking on the offer ID in the list of offers displayed by the bidder's
client browser
using a pointing device on the bidder's client computer.
Referring to Figure 4B, the input step 400 of the preferred embodiment is
describe further.
In step 424, the second, bidding trader (the bidder) changes a limited set of
values of the values supplied in the offer being bid on, if desired. Some
values may
be changed and others not, depending on the commodity. Some changes involve
items with optional costs, such as barcoding or tarping a load of the
commodity. The
bidder has the option of leaving the offer unaltered. In the preferred
embodiment,
when the bidder clicks on an offer ID, a make-a-bid web page is displayed on
the
client's display, listing the values of the properties that constitute the
selected offer.
Some areas of the web page will be fixed, and some areas of the web page can
be
changed before a bid is submitted. The layout of the make-a-bid page mimics
the
page layout of the web page displayed to prompt the offeror for the offeror's
inputs,
for those items that are the same. In this embodiment, the bidder must select
an
integral number of loads, partial loads are not allowed. The bidder may also
enter
special conditions in a comments field. If the bidder incurs optional costs,
the
presented price must be recomputed and redisplayed on the bid. All information
for
optional cost items are carried with the offer so that the central authority
can perform
the re-computation automatically without further input from the offeror. If
the bidder
is a buyer which has several payment terms pre-negotiated with the central
authority,
the buyer must select one of those payment terms in this step.
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In this way a round of controlled re-negotiation affecting the most unique and
time-critical terms of a proposed sales contract are allowed. None of the
prior art
systems of which the inventors are aware provide this function in an automated
exchange system.
For example, in the Wood Products System embodiment of the present
invention, the following items can be changed on a lumber bid to buy.
~ Trim or Tally
~ Wrapped
~ # of Loads
~ Bar Coding if offered by Seller
~ Tarping if offered by Seller
~ Ship Date Week Of
The buyer also may submit any conditions or comments concerning the offer
by inputting the information in a bid comments text box provided on the form.
The
buyer must select payment terms before submitting the bid.
In step 426 the bidder inputs a bid price in response to the presentation
price.
If the central authority approves this price by determining that the buyer has
adequate
credit, an irrevocable bid will be constructed in step 430, described below;
thus, the
bidder must be willing to honor the price and consider it an irrevocable bid
price .
In step 428 the central authority checks the bid price. To discourage bids too
disparate from the offer being responded to, in the preferred embodiment, the
price
must be within some threshold bid price. If the offer is an offer to sell,
then the bid
to buy must be greater than a minimum buy price. If the offer is an offer to
buy, then
the bid to sell must be less than a maximum sell price. The threshold bid
price is a
system parameter which is set to a value in step 124, described above. For
example,
in the Wood Products System, the minimum buy price is 65% of the presentation
price, as listed in the above description of step 124. In another example
embodiment,
a maximum sell price is 150% of the presentation price. If the bid price is
within the
threshold price, the central authority then determines whether the bidder is
likely to
be able to perform according to the bid terms. In the preferred embodiment,
this
includes determining that the bidder has sufficient uncommitted credit within
the
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bidding member's credit limit, if the bidder is a buyer. The determination of
available credit was described above for the buyer offeror in step 411. If the
bid
price is outside the threshold or exceeds a buying bidder's credit limit, no
trade is
allowed, as indicated by step 405. In the preferred embodiment, the bidder is
S notified via the make-a-bid web page that the bid price was not approved by
the
central authority.
In step 430, the central authority constructs an irrevocable bid based on the
offer being bid on, the inputs received in step 424 and the bid price received
in step
426. The bid includes an acceptance price for the offeror. The acceptance
price is
computed from the bid price corrected for transactions costs and shipping
rates
between the offeror and the bidder. If the offeror is a buyer, the acceptance
price has
the transaction costs and shipping costs added onto the bid price; if the
offeror is a
seller, as in the Wood Products System, the acceptance price has the
transaction costs
and shipping rates subtracted out from the bid price. In the preferred
embodiment
the bid is given a bid identification number (bid ID) and is associated with
the offer
ID.
In step 432 the bid is presented to the offeror as long as the bid is active.
In
the preferred embodiment, a bid is active if it has not expired. It does not
matter
whether the bidder has logged off. As described above for step 420, in the
preferred
embodiment a trader is automatically logged off if the trader's client has
been
inactive for a time exceeding the timeout parameter. The expiration time of a
bid is
set to a value by the central authority as described above for step 124. In
the
preferred embodiment the bid expiration time is 30 minutes.
In the preferred embodiment, bid presentation is accomplished first by
updating a line on the monitor-offers web page listing the offers belonging to
the first
trader. The monitor-offers web page may be opened by the offeror and viewed
from
the offeror's client machine and browser. If the monitor-offers web page is
already
open, the line will be updated at the next refresh time for the web page. The
monitor-offers web page refresh rate is a system parameter set to a value in
step 124
described above. In the preferred embodiment, the offeror can choose to view
details
of the bids associated with an offer on the monitor-offers web page using the
pointing device; and, as a result, a web page giving all the unique details of
the bid is
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transmitted to and displayed by the offeror's browser. If the offeror's
monitor-offers
web page does not list any bids, then no trade can be consummated, as
indicated by
step 405.
In step 434, the offeror accepts one or more of the active bids if the offeror
wants to close the deal. The offeror can accept as many bids as there are
sufficient
loads in the original offer to satisfy. For example, if the original offer was
for five
loads, the offeror can accept a bid for 3 loads from one bidder and bids for
one load
each from two other bidders. By accepting the irrevocable bid from the second
trader, the offeror indicates to the central authority that agreement has been
reached
between certain of the contracting traders. No further action by the bidders
is
necessary.
If no bid is accepted by the offeror, then no trade is completed as indicated
by
step 405.
In the preferred embodiment, a bidder is notified of an accepted bid, as well
as the status of all bids made by the bidder, first by updating a line on a
monitor-bids
web page listing the bids belonging to the second trader. The monitor-bids web
page
may be opened by the bidder and viewed from the bidder's client machine and
browser. If the monitor-bids web page is already open, the line will be
updated at the
next refresh time for the web page. The monitor-bids web page refresh rate is
a
system parameter set to a value in step 124 described above. In the preferred
embodiment, the bidder can choose to view details of the bids associated on
the
monitor-bids web page using the pointing device; and, as a result, a web page
giving
all the unique details of the bid is transmitted to and displayed by the
bidder's
browser.
Constructing A Standardized Sales Contract
As a result of step 434 agreement is reached based on trader inputs and the
central authority can proceed with constructing a sales contract as shown by
step 135
in Figure 1. Figure 5 illustrates the sales contract construction step 500
according to
another embodiment.
In Figure 5, sales contract construction 500 includes constructing an original
sales contract with all the unique terms of the accepted bid in step 510. This
contract
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is binding on both offeror and bidder at this stage in time. In the preferred
embodiment, one sales contract is constructed for each load in the bids) and
given a
unique sales contract identification number (sales contract ID).
In step 512 the bidder views the sales contract. This signifies that the
bidder
is notified that the bid has been accepted. In the preferred embodiment, this
is
accomplished by updating the bidder's monitor-bids web' page with an
indication that
a bid has been accepted. For example, in the Wood Products System system, an
"A"
is placed in the bid status field of the bid line on the monitor-bids web
page. In the
preferred embodiment, the bidder is also notified with a message box sent to
the
bidder's browser, which displays the message in a separate window on the
display of
the bidder's client computer. The bidder may then open a sales contract web
page
which lists all the sales contracts that resulted from the bidders bids, and
view any
sales contract on a sales contract details web page. In other embodiments, the
sales
contract can be grouped by authorized trader, or agents of same, as well as by
bid or
by offer.
In step 514 a trader, whether offeror or bidder, requests a change for a term
in
the sales contract. The items that may be subject to a request for change are
limited
by the central authority to prevent excessive transaction costs. However, some
modifications to the sales contract may be expedient and not burdensome for
the
other trader to consider. In the Wood Products System embodiment, the only
contract item subject to a request for change is the destination, and only by
the buyer.
A buyer is allowed to request a change in destination which must be approved
by the
financial company of the Wood Products System. In the preferred embodiment,
the
change is accomplished by indicating an allowed change on the sales contract
web
page and selecting change request.
In step 516 the change in price resulting from the change in contract term, if
any, such as the change in destination, is presented to the requester so that
the
requester knows the effect of the change.
In step 518 the requester submits the change request, and in step 520 a cost
change is computed for the other party. For example, the change destination
request
made by the buyer is used to compute a new seller's sales price corrected for
transaction fees and the new buyer's destination. _
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In step 522 the central authority presents the change request to the other
party
with the appropriate changes in contract terms and new price, as a result of
freight
changes If the other party accepts the change in step 524, then the central
authority
constructs an amended contract in step 530. If the other party rejects the
change in
step 524, then the central authority notifies the requesting trader in step
540 and
retains the original sales contract in step 542.
For example, in the Wood Products System, if a buyer requests that a
shipment of lumber or panel be delivered to an alternate location from the one
in the
accepted bid details, the buyer requests the change on the buyer's group sales
contract page, and submits it to the selling trader for approval and
acceptance. The
seller receives notification of a change request via a notification message
box at the
top of the monitor offers page, a logoff page, and the home page. The seller
will
accept or reject the change request, and send the response back to the buyer,
who will
receive notification of this at the monitor bids page. By clicking on the
notification
message box, the buyer is taken to the sales contract page. The new sales
contract
would have a red arrow next to the sales contract ID identifying it as
unviewed. If
the seller accepts the change request, an amended sales contract is generated
and sent
to the buyer to view. The original sales contract ID will have a "-1" appended
to it.
The numeral appended will reflect how many times the seller has accepted a
change
request to the same offer. The status of the sales contract will be "NV,"
reflecting
that the buyer has not yet viewed the seller's response. The buyer later
clicks on the
sale contract ID to generate the amended sales contract page. The recalculated
prices
will appear on the page. If the seller rejects the change request, the
response is sent
back to the buyer, and no changes are made to the original sales contract. The
status
of the sales contract would be "NA," reflecting that the seller did not accept
the
buyer's change request. The buyer is not requested to view the sales contract
again if
the seller rejects the change request.
Constructing Invoices
In step 136 of Figure l, a selling trader constructs an invoice when a
shipment is sent pursuant to a sales contract. An authorized trader, or its
agent, must
first notify the central authority that the load of the commodity has been
shipped.
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For example, in the Wood Products System, the agent playing the role of
selling
member accountant notifies the central authority that a load associated with a
sales
contract ID has been shipped. In the preferred embodiment, the notification is
performed by the agent making entries on a web page to which the agent has
access.
The central authority server provides the web pages displayed at the agent's
client
computer using the agent's web browser.
For example, in the Wood Products System, when a shipment has been
shipped, the seller accountant creates the seller invoice and submits it to
Wood
Products SystemT"'. The Invoice is created with the final sales contract
details
automatically included. The seller accountant clicks on the operations tab in
a top
navigation bar of the Wood Products System members home page, then on the
invoicing item in a lower navigation bar. An invoicing web page appears with
areas
for the accountant to enter information. When the accountant enters a company
and
account, a list of sales contracts is provided on the web page by the central
authority
server. The list contains an invoice identification number (invoice ID) which
has a
link to a create-invoice page if no invoice has yet been constructed for the
associated
sales contract. On the create-invoice page, the accountant will specify actual
shipping details including, but not limited to,
~ actual quantity on the truck or rail car
~ bill of lading number
~ actual ship date
~ routing
~ car number
~ shipper information (name, contact, contact phone number)
~ first tax (name and percentage rate)
~ second tax (name and percentage rate)
~ third tax (name and percentage rate)
Inputting this data by the seller creates the invoice. In response, the
central authority
then automatically computes the following items and produces a seller's
invoice.
~ cost of goods (FOB destination price times quantity of goods)
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~ bar coding charge (bar coding price times quantity of goods)
~ tarping charge (tarping price per load time one load)
~ subtotal of above three items
~ gross total (subtotal plus taxes)
~ discount ( [cost of goods minus total freight] times discount rate)
~ net total (gross total minus discount)
The accountant then submits the invoice to the central authority by clicking
on the
submit invoice button at the bottom of the create-invoice page. The central
authority
then receives the seller's invoice and distributes it, including sending a
buyer's
invoice to the buyer.
In the preferred embodiment, once the invoice is submitted, the central
authority assigns an invoice identification number (invoice ID) and the buyer
is
notified of the shipment via the sales contracts page which shows that an
invoice has
been generated for the sales contract. For example, in the Wood Products
System,
1 S "INV" appears in the sales contract status field of the sales contract
page.
Transaction Database
In step 137, the transaction database 31 S is updated. This step is shown in
Figure 1 after the invoice is constructed but may be updated at many times,
including
earlier times after each offer, bid, acceptance, change request, and change
request
acceptance is submitted.
Figure 3 shows the transaction database 315 residing on a server 300 of the
central authority. The database is shown outside the Buy/Sell commodity
process
310 because the database may be shared with other processes, especially the
Manage
payments/accounting process 340 and the Market trends/statistics process 320.
In
particular, the Manage payments/accounting process 340 makes entries into the
database to reflect delivery and payment status of sales invoices on sales
contracts,
and generates many detailed reports for contracting partners based on the data
in the
transaction database 315.
Sufficient detail is stored in the database to support reports that must be
generated from that database. Every offer, whether bid on or not, can be
stored. It is
a design consideration whether such information is deleted from the database
if a
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step fails to lead to a completed transaction (through delivery and acceptance
of
goods). For example when an offer expires or is cancelled, the offer may be
left un-
entered into the database, or deleted from the database if already there. On
the other
hand, even expired offers provide information about the activity on the system
and
the reliability of different traders. Thus there are reasons to record all
activity on the
system in the transactions database. Any technique known in the art for
storing this
information in a database may be used. Better performance may be obtained
using
certain arrangements of data, such as in the preferred embodiment.
Reports generated based on the data in the database specify the data that must
be stored there. In the preferred embodiment all unique details of every
offer, bid,
sales contract, amended sales contract, invoice, and payment record is stored
in the
database, and the records are organized by offer ID, bid ID, sales contract
ID, and
invoice ID.
Manage Payments/Accounting
In step 140 of Figure 1, payments are made and entered into an accounting
system based at least in part on information in the transaction database 315.
In the
preferred embodiment much of this is done automatically by the Manage
payments/accounting process 340 shown in Figure 3 which retrieves information
from the transaction database in step 142, and interfaces with, and exports
data to,
any separate accounting packages in step 144. The bonding agent then pays
sellers
and collects from buyers in step 146 based on information provided during this
process 340.
For example, in the Wood Products System, a separate accounting package,
herein called the attached accounting system, manages receivable (such as
buyer's
invoices), payables (seller's invoice) and the associated financial
transactions such as
membership credit notes and membership credit management. This includes
performing audit trails from offer through performance. The attached
accounting
system is relied on to ensure the integrity of payment due dates, discount
percentage,
transaction fee percentages, billing frequency, and due date expectations
specified in
contracts between members and the Wood Products System. The attached
accounting
system produces reports necessary to ensure contract compliance. The Wood
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Products System writes directly to the attached accounting system application.
The
attached accounting system application produces sub-ledger/account/activity
status
reports of a past date, typically past day, week and month end, to facilitate
accounting reconciliation and auditing. The attached accounting system
application
S produces reports on individual accounts to authorized traders, system
operations,
credit management, and payments and accounting, as applicable.
In an alternative embodiment, the accounting package is on the client
computer of one of the contracting traders and the system exports the
information
from the server to the client as a file downloaded by the client's browser,
for use
directly by the accounting package on the client.
Market Trends
In step 160 of Figure 1, market trends and statistics are computed based at
least in part on information in the transaction database 315. In the preferred
embodiment much of this is done automatically by the Market trends/statistics
process 320 shown in Figure 3 which retrieves information from the transaction
database and performs mathematical analysis in step 162, and interfaces with,
and
exports results to subscribing members in step 164. In the preferred
embodiment,
only members which have paid an extra fee are recipients of the market trends
and
statistics reports. In the preferred embodiment, currency conversions and
standard
products of varying temporal and spatial granularity are provided.
For example, in the Wood Products System, a separate analysis package,
herein called the attached trends system, is used as the process 320. For
every type
of trade in zones as fine as the hub level, the attached trends system reports
the
following quantities.
~ Closing price yesterday (FOB destination for buyers, and FOB
destination with seller freight book equivalent for sellers).
~ Volume sold year-to-date, yesterday, and total for today through last
refresh.
~ Volumes shipped yesterday, and total for today through last refresh.
~ Last sale price yesterday, and today through last refresh.
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~ High/low/average price year-to-date, yesterday, and today through last
refresh.
In the attached trends system, there are two views for the information
presented, one is in Canadian currency, the other in U.S. currency. Conversion
from
currency of data stored in the database to the selected view is done with the
current
exchange rate, shown on the screen, and updated at least daily. Also, year-to-
date is
a rolling 52 week period. Subscribers to the attached trends system are able
to select
one of the above products for a zone updated at each refresh interval. A zone
is
coarser than a hub when necessary to prevent subscribers from attributing
price data
to an individual member.
In the following section, called an external design document; more details are
provided about the Wood Products System as an example of the preferred
embodiment. In this external design document, a Company is a trader in the
general
sense used above. Also, an authorized trader is called a "Member Company," or
simply, "Member;" and a "Trader" is a trader in the narrow sense, i.e. an
individual
user who is a buying or selling agent of the Company.
PURPOSE OF THE EXTERNAL DESIGN DOCUMENT
This document is in the series of documents listed below which have been
produced as part of the development effort for The Wood Products SystemT"'.
1. Functional Requirements
2. Functional Specifications
3. Audit Requirements
4. Report Requirements
5. External Design
The External Design document describes the interface between The Wood Products
SystemTM and the users of The Wood Products SystemT"'.
This document describes all necessary information that went into the creation
of the
actual Web pages for the The Wood Products SystemTM Web site. Information
objects, Data objects, Navigation objects, and Action objects are described,
and
criteria required for each object are defined. Flow diagrams for each process
on The
Wood Products SystemTM are included, as well as visuals of each Web page.
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LOOK AND FEEL REQUIREMENTS
GRAPHIC DESIGN CONVENTIONS
Nomenclature
~ Tne wood Products system ~o9o-A graphic displaying The Wood Products System
Logo.
~ Navigation Bart graphic with links to the areas of The Wood Products System
available to
Member and The Wood Products System Users (based on their Roles and
Permissions,
and their current location in the Web site}. See Figure 6A.
Color
The Wood Products System will employ the CLUT Palette throughout. This is a
216-color, non-dithering palette designed to be the same when displayed on
almost
any monitor.
Graphic Size
The Wood Products System Logo and all graphics (buttons, gifs) will be as
small as possible so as to minimize the amount of time pages take to load.
Format
All graphics are in Graphic Interchange Format. GIF is a format that
compresses pictures without very much loss of the information in the original.
Graphics saved in GIF format - "GIFs" in the vernacular - travel easily across
the
World Wide Web and display on monitors quickly.
Interlacing
All graphics are interlaced. Interlacing is a technique that allows the
browser
to display incoming graphics in layers, building them up in such a manner as
to
capture the viewer's attention and interest. Interlacing is important for
large pictures,
such as those on the Home Page.
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Page Size
The Wood Products System will assume a Web page of 1024 x 768 pixels set
to display 256 colors. Consistent with the logic of the information required,
designers
will make every effort to avoid the necessity of scrolling.
Screen Size
The Wood Products System is mandating that their Members purchase a 19-
inch monitor screen.
Navigation
Every page will have a Navigation Bar facilitating movement to major and
minor areas of the Web site as well as the generic "previous" and "next"
activities as
appropriate.
Other Information
~ The The Wood Products System Web site will use the American spelling
conventions.
~ Advertising space will appear on general pages, such as The Wood Products
System
TrendsT"' page, or the About The Wood Products System page. Advertising will
not
appear on any page that requires The Wood Products System Member to "do
something", for example, Make an Offer, Search for Offers, query The Wood
Products
System TrendsT"' information, etc.
GENERAL SYSTEM PARAMETERS
Dates
Date format will always be year-month-day
Time
24-hour clock will be used
Time will be delivered in the format "11:24"
The Wood Products System Clock referred to on The Wood Products System
will reside at The Wood Products System headquarters in Chicago.
Business day is 7: 00 to 19: 00 Chicago Time.
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AREAS OF THE THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEMT~' WEB SITE
COMMON AREAS
Certain areas of The Wood Products System Web site will be available to all
The Wood Products System Members.
Welcome '
The Welcome page is reached when a User inputs http://The Wood Products
Svstem URL in the address box of their Browser.
Log On
The Log on to The Wood Products System T"" page is used to enter The Wood
Products System. Members must have a valid User name and password.
Home
The Member's Home page is reached when a User successfully logs onto The
Wood Products System with a valid User name and password.
Directory
The Wood Products System Members Directory provides links to all non-
confidential The Wood Products System Member Company Information, Company
Profiles, Account Information, Account Profiles, and Contact Information for
both
Companies and Accounts.
MEMBER SPECIFIC AREAS
Other areas of The Wood Products System application will be available only
to those who have been assigned the Role or Permissions to access them.
Operations
The operations area of the Web site is available to The Wood Products System
Users and Members with the following Roles on The Wood Products System:
~. The Wood Products System Administrator
2. The Wood Products System Credit Manager
s. The Wood Products System Accounting
4. The Wood Products System Freight Book Editor
s. Member Administrator
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s. Member Freight Book Editor (Selling Members only)
Member Accountant
Options available under the operations tab are determined by the User role,
and are
discussed in the Operations section of this document.
Buy
Buying Member Traders and Supervisors will have access to the suy area of
the Web site. Options available under the Buy tab include Search Lumber
Offers,
Search Panel Offers, Monitor Bids, Supervise Bids, Sales Contracts, and
Cancelled
Sales Contracts.
Sell
Selling Member Traders, Supervisors, and Accountants will have access to
the seal area of the Web site. Options available under the sel tab include
Make
Lumber Offer, Make Panel Offer, Monitor Offers, Supervise Offers, Change
Requests, and Cancelled Sales Contracts.
Reports
The Web site provides The Wood Products System Members with user-
oriented report information. A Member must be assigned the Reports permission,
however, separately from their Role. Buying Members will be able to generate
and
view Buying Reports. Selling Members will be able to generate and view Selling
Reports. A Selling Member's Freight Book Editor will be able to generate and
view
Freight Book Reports.
The Wood Products System Administrators and Credit Managers have access
to Audit Reports.
The Reports each Member has access to on The Wood Products System will
be discussed in the appropriate sections.
The Wood Products System Trends
The Wood Products System Trends offers The Wood Products System
Members industry specific reports.
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Members on The Wood Products System must purchase The Wood Products
System Trends as an add-on service in order to view and query The Wood
Products
System Trends data generated by The Wood Products System.
S NAVIGATING THROUGH THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEMTM
The Navigation system created for The Wood Products System has been
designed with the goal to help The Wood Products System Members move
intuitively and easily through the site.
The first Ievel of navigation is entering The Wood Products SystemTM URL
(Universal Resource Locator) into the Address box of the Internet Explorer
Browser.
Once the address is entered The Wood Products System Welcome page will be
displayed. From the Welcome page, non-Members will be able to access "About
The
Wood Products SystemTM" information. Members will enter The Wood Products
System via the Log On page.
1$ THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM
Top Navigation Bar
The top layer of navigation on The Wood Products System Web site is
composed of six tabs, which separate The Wood Products System into six areas:
1. Buy*
2. seu*
3. Reports
a. Operations
5. Directory
6. The Wood Products System TrendsTM*
2$ * Buy only appears if User is part of a Buying Account, Sell appears only
if User is part of a Selling Account,
and The Wood Products System TrendsT" appears only if User has proper
permissions
This is called the Top Navigation Bar. Selecting one of the six tabs will
produce the Lower Navigation Bar items associated with it. Figure 6A shows the
Top
and Lower Navigation bar items available to The Wood Products System
Administrator:
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As you will see, The Wood Products System Administrator receives the
Reports, Operations, Directory, and The Wood Products System Trends T'" Top
Navigatlori
Bar items. Under the operations tab, the Administrator has access to
Administration,
The Wood Products System T"' Settings, Holidays, Cancel SCs, Import Freight
Book, Major/Minor
Hubs, and Payments. The Wood Products System Administrator does not have the
Buy
or Sell top tabs available.
Not all Members will see all Top Navigation Bar tabs. A Selling Trader will
not see the Seu tab and its associated Lower Navigation Bar items. A Seller's
Freight
Book Editor will not see the Buy tab in the Top Navigation Bar. And so on.
The Navigation Bars available to each Member will be determined by their
Role on The Wood Products System and the permissions assigned to them by their
Member Administrator or The Wood Products System Administrator.
The Lower Navigation Bar
The Lower Navigation Bar produces the items available under a Top
Navigation Bar tab. The content of the Lower Navigation Bar is determined by
the
Member's Registration file. For example, a Selling Trader who has been
assigned to
Trade Lumber only, and not Panel as well, will have "Make Lumber Offers"
available in the Lower Navigation Bar but not "Make Panel Offers".
Clicking on a Lower Navigation Bar item loads the selected page, and puts
the title of the page in the upper left corner.
The examples below show the Lower Navigation Bar items available to a
Selling Trader under the seu tab, who trades in both lumber and panel.
The Bottom Navigation Bar
At the bottom of each page on The Wood Products System site, is a set of
navigation buttons, which will allow a User to:
1. Go to the Home page
2. Get Help for the page they are currently viewing
3. Access The Wood Products System Trends T"" information.
4. Change Password.
5. Log Off or Exit The Wood Products SystemTM.
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This set of navigation buttons is called the Bottom Navigation Bar.
Figure 6B shows the Bottom Navigation Bar items that are available to all
Users from any page on the site:
HOW ROLES AND PERMISSIONS DETERMINE NAVIGATION
Selling Members
Selling Members include the following roles:
Administrator
2. Accountant
3. Freight Book Editor
4. Supervisor
s. Selling Trader
For the following example, we will assume that each Member has been given
Reports permissions. We will also assume that the Selling Member trades in
both
I S lumber and panel.
Please note: Any User may be assigned more than one role.
I
Administrator Operations Administration
Reports Selling Reports (for
Accounts
selected in User Roles
Table)
Directory Members Directory
Freight Book Operations Edit Freight Book
Editor
Upload Freight Book
Reports Freight Book Reports
(for
Accounts selected
in User
Roles Table)
Selling Reports
Directory Members Directory
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Accountant Operations Invoicing
Cancelled Invoices
Reports Selling Reports (for
Accounts
selected in User Roles
Table)
Directory Members Directory
supervisor Sell Supervise Offers
Supervise Change Requests
Reports Selling Reports (for
Accounts
selected in User Roles
Table)
Directory Members Directory
trader Sell Make Lumber Offers
Make Panel Offers
Monitor Offers
Change Requests
Cancelled SCs
Reports Selling Reports (for
Accounts
selected in User Roles
Table)
Directory Members Directory
When The Wood Products System Administrator registers a Selling Trader or
Supervisor, they will be assigned to certain Accounts, and given permission to
trade
Lumber, Panel, or both, and to generate and view Selling Reports. If a Selling
Trader
only trades Lumber, he will not be given the "Make Panel Offers" item in the
Lower
S Navigation Bar.
There will be some Executive level Members on The Wood Products
SystemTM who will not be assigned to any Accounts for their Company. They
could
be assigned the Reports and The Wood Products System Trends permissions only,
and therefore their navigation items will be limited to the Reports arid
Directory tabs.
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Buying Members
Buying Members include the following roles:
Administrator
2. Supervisor
3. Trader
4. Accountant
For the following example, we will assume that each Member has been given
Reports permissions. We will also assume that the Buying Member trades in both
lumber and panel.
Piease note: Any User may be assigned more than one role.
Aaministrator Operations Administration
Reports Buying Reports (for
Accounts selected
in
User Roles Table)
Directory Members Directory
Supervisor Buy Supervise Bids
Supervise SCs
Reports Buying Reports (for
Accounts selected
in
User Roles Table)
Directory Members Directory
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,
trader Buy Search Lumber Offers
Search Panel Offers
Monitor Bids
Sales Contracts
Reports Buying Reports (for
Accounts selected
in
User Roles Table)
Directory Member Directory
When a Buying Trader and Supervisor is registered by The Wood Products
System Administrator, they will be assigned to certain Accounts, and given
permission to purchase Lumber, Panel, or both, and to generate and view Buying
Reports for those assigned Accounts. If a Buying Trader only trades in Lumber,
he
will not be given the Search Panel Offers item in the Lower Navigation Bar.
There will be some Executive level Members on The Wood Products System
who will not be assigned to any Accounts for their Company. They could be
assigned
the Reports and The Wood Products System Trends permissions only, and
therefore
The Wood Products System Users
The Wood Products System Members include the following roles:
~. The Wood Products System Administrator
2. The Wood Products System Credit Manager
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s. The Wood Products System Accountant
4. The Wood Products System Master Freight Book Editor
For the following example, we will assume that each User has been given
Reports permissions.
Please note: Any User may be assigned more than one role.
i
Aaministrator Operations Administration
The Wood Products
System Settings
Holidays
Cancel SCs
Import Freight Book
Major/Minor Hubs
Payments
Reports Buying Reports (for
.All
Companies and Accounts
in The Wood Products
System System. Reports
generated per Company
and per Account
selected.)
Selling Reports
(for All
Companies and Accounts
in The Wood Products
System. Reports
generated
per Company and
per
Account selected.)
Audit (System) Reports
Freight Book Reports
Directory Members Directory
Listings
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credit Manager Operations Administration
Reports Buying Reports (for
All
Companies and Accounts
in The Wood Products
System. Reports
generated
per Company and
per
Account selected.)
Selling Reports
(for All
Companies and Accounts
in The Wood Products
System. Reports
generated
per Company and
per
Account selected.)
Audit (Credit) Reports
Directory Members Directory
Accountant Operations Payments
Directory Members Directory
Freight Book Editor Operations Import Freight Book
Major/Minor Hubs
Reports Freight Book Reports
(for
All Companies and
Accounts on The
Wood
Products SystemTM)
Directory Members
Directory
WELCOME PAGE
The Welcome page is reached when a User inputs the Wood Products System
homepage URL in the address box of their Browser.
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The Welcome Page invites Members to log on to The Wood Products
System, and offers Non-Members a link to learn more about The Wood Products
System, including how to contact The Wood Products System. for more
information.
Welcome Page Actions
Non-Members, upon selecting the Public button, will be taken to the "About
The Wood Products System" page of the Web site.
Members, upon selecting Log on to The wood Products SystemTM, will be taken
to the Member Log On page.
LOG ON TO THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM
CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY
If this is the first time that you are logging on, the "Registering The Wood
Products System Certificate Authority" page appears.
1 S The following procedure provides encryption of all data for your browser
and
is necessary for proper security. You will not need to perform this procedure
on
subsequent log ons.
~ Click the Install button. The File Download window appears.
~ Select the "Open this file from its current location" option.
~ Click OK. The New Site Certificate window appears.
~ Click OK. The Root Certificate Store window appears.
~ Click Yes. The Wood Products System Authority registration is complete and
you are
returned to the Registering The Wood Products System Certificate Authority
page.
~ Click on the text Once installed, click here to Log On to The Wood Products
SystemT"".
This will display the Log On page, where you may log on to The Wood Products
System.
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On subsequent log ons, the Log On page will appear after you click the tree
key on the Welcome page.
LOG ON PAGE
Once the above has been completed, the User will gain access to The Wood
S Products System via a simple Log On Page.
From the Welcome page, a Member would select the X09 on to The wood
Products systemTM button, which will produce the Log On page as shown in
Figure
6C.
The User must input a Log On name (supplied to each Member by The Wood
Products System Administrator or their Member Administrator) and password
(first
time log on, it will be the same as the Username) The Log On name will be
assigned
at Member Registration.
The Log On name is the user's last name and first initial. The Log On name is
not case-sensitive, and may not be longer than 20 characters in length.
Log On Page Actions
Selecting the dog on To The Wood Products System T"" button routes the inputs
from the Log On page to the Server.
CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD
For security reasons, The Wood Products System requires their Members to
change their password every forty-two days. The Wood Products System will
automatically prompt Members by displaying the Change Password page shown in
Figure 6D at Log On when it is time to choose a new password. Members may,
however, change their password anytime, by selecting the Change Password item
at
the Member's Home page.
Passwords must be 8 characters in length, and include at least one numeric
and one alpha character. Passwords are case-sensitive.
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Change Password Page Actions
Selecting the update button routes the inputs from this page to the Server,
and
returns the User to the Log On page. The User would then log on to The Wood
Products System, by inputting their User name and new password.
S
MEMBERS' HOME PAGE
The Home page shown in Figure 6E is the first page to greet Members once
they have successfully logged onto The Wood Products System. The Home page
will
provide timely news items of interest to The Wood Products System Members. The
content of these articles will change regularly.
Notifications
A Member will be informed of any messages that are important to address
promptly, via the Notifications Alert message box at the top-center of the
Home page.
For example, if The Wood Products System adds a Minor Hub to the Master
Freight
Book, they would provide the Notifications Alert to all Selling Members on The
Wood
Products System to inform them of this.
By clicking on the Notifications Alert message box, the Notifications page is
generated, an example of which is shown in Figure 6F.
By selecting a Message ID #, a Member may view the messages sent to him
from The Wood Products System, such as shown in Figure 6G.
Clicking on the clear button returns the User to the Notifications page, where
he may select another Message ID # to view.
A Member may also clear messages from the Notifications page without
viewing them in the following way:
s. Click in the checkbox under the (X) column beside the message you wish to
clear.
s. Click on the (X) in the column heading itself. This will clear the message
from the
Notifications page.
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Audio Alarm
A Member User will also have an Audio Alarm option available to them.
The voice message will alert Sellers if a Bid is received, and will alert
Buyers if a
Bid is accepted or if an Offer appears.
The Member Administrator can activate/deactivate the alarm for each User.
The User's computer must have an audio card for this voice to be heard.
To activate the Audio Alarm, select the User's name from the Company
information page. The User information page will appear. Select the Audio
Notification checkmark box, and click on the update button to
activate/deactivate the
alarm.
If the User is logged on when the alarm is activated, they must log off and
log
back on in order to start receiving the Audio Alarms.
In order to hear the alarm, a user must be on the Monitor Offers page (for
Sellers), or the Monitor Bids page (for Buyers). These pages refresh every
three
15 minutes and the Audio Alarm occurs at the time of refreshing. The User can
be
working in another program, but The Wood Products SystemTM must be opened in
the background in order for the alarm to work (i.e. the window must not be
minimized).
Scrolling Marquee
Any news that The Wood Products System wishes to send to Members will
appear on the Scrolling Marquee at the Member Home page.
By clicking on the Marquee, a message box will appear that contains the full
details of the message.
MEMBERS DIRECTORY
25 The Wood Products System Members Directory consists of a linked alphabet
chart. Selecting a letter of the alphabet produces a Members Directory Table,
listing
all The Wood Products System Members beginning with that letter. The left
column
provides the Short Company Name, beside the legal company name, and finally
the
city and state location of the Company. The Short Name is appended to every
Account on The Wood Products SystemTM.
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In the example shown in Figure 6H, the letter A was selected to generate the
following Members Directory Table of The Wood Products System Companies and
Subsidiary Companies beginning with the letter A.
The Short Name Alamo or Alamo Subl will be appended to all Accounts
associated with the Company.
Selecting the Short Name in the first column takes a User to the Directory
listing for the Company. The Directory provides all non-confidential
information that
a Company wants to share with other Members on The Wood Products System. This
will include information on the Parent Company, all Subsidiary Companies, and
all
Accounts associated with the companies.
The hierarchical structure of the Company is displayed in the left frame of
the
Directory page, as illustrated in the following samples.
When Alamo is selected, the Main Info page for the Company is generated as
shown in Figure 6I.
By selecting a Parent Company name, the name of one of its Subsidiary
Companies, or the name of one of the Accounts associated with a Company in the
left frame, all non-confidential information provided by the Company can be
viewed
in the right frame of the Members Directory page. This information is
organized in
three categories:
~ Main Info
~ Contacts
~ Profile
The Main Info page for Alamo Lumber Co. is displayed above. The Main Info
page includes the Company's location and billing addresses, and provides
access to
their Company Contacts and Company Profile.
The Contacts registered for Alamo Lumber Co. can be viewed as in Figure
6J. The first level of information available to Members about the Contacts for
a
Company is the Contact Name, Title, and Telephone #. Every contact registered
by a
Company will appear in this Contacts summary table.
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Clicking on a Contact Name will generate the Contact Info and Contact
Addresses information for the selected name.
The Contact Into for Curt Vaughan III is displayed in Figure 6K.
S You will notice that no address information has been input for Curt Vaughan
III. It is optional for Companies to provide this information.
An e-mail can be sent to the Company, Account or Contact of a Company. If
an e-mail address is available, click on it. An e-mail form opens and can be
completed and sent.
Access the desired Company, Account, or Contact information page in the
Members Directory. If an e-mail address is available, click on it. An e-mail
form
opens where a message may be sent.
To view the Directory information about another Company or one of its
Accounts, a User must click on a Company Name or Account name in the left
frame
of the Company Information page.
Clicking on Alamo in the left frame returns the User to the Main Info page
for the Company. From here, the User may choose to view the Profile for a
selected
Company, by clicking on the Profile button at the bottom of the page.
The Company Profile for Alamo is illustrated in Figure 6L.
To leave the Profile area, click on a Company or Account name in the left
frame of the page, or select one of the navigation items in the Top or Lower
Navigation Bars.
A Company may also provide information about their Selling and Buying
Accounts for The Wood Products System Members to view. These accounts are
listed in the left frame of the Company Information page. In the following
example,
we have selected the Alamo-Alamo-Dallas Buying Account, and from the Main Info
page for the Selling Account, we have selected to view their Profile. This is
shown
in Figure 6M.
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LOGGING OFF OF THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM
For security reasons The Wood Products System automatically "times out" if
a Member does not perform an action for 30 minutes (or the time specified by
The
Wood Products System Administrator in The Wood Products System Settings). This
S time limit is flexible and determined by The Wood Products System
Administrator.
In such cases, The Wood Products System displays the Log On page the next time
a
User attempts to do something on The Wood Products System. The User will
simply
Log On again by inputting their User name and password.
All The Wood Products System Members exit The Wood Products System by
clicking on the jog off button available to them in the Bottom Navigation Bar.
It is very important to exit The Wood Products System Web site properly, so
The Wood Products System can complete its audit of the Member's daily
transactions. The Web site provides different prompts to Users depending on
their
roles on The Wood Products System.
Selling and Buying Traders will receive a page to address any outstanding
tasks before logging off. This is discussed in the Sell and Buy sections of
this
document.
The Wood Products System automatically times out members if they go for a
certain amount of time without performing an action. The specific amount of
time is
a System Setting controlled by The Wood Products System Administrator, and
will
initially be set for 30 minutes. In such cases, The Wood Products System
displays the
Log On page when an attempt is made to do something.
If a Selling Member is automatically disconnected, their Offers will be placed
"on hold" so that they may not be viewed or Bid upon by Buyers.
SELL
The Selling Trader begins the selling process by creating an Offer.
MAKE LUMBER OFFERS
The Make Lumber Offer form shown in Figure 6N allows Sellers to create
lumber Offers and to publish them to The Wood Products System.
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Mandatory Fields
Each field on the Lumber Offer form describes the Offer to the Buying
Trader. For this reason, there are certain fields that are mandatory, and for
which the
Selling Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the Lumber
Offer
form are highlighted on the Offer form with an asterisk beside the name. They
are:
~ Seller Accounts
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Width
~ Length
~ Trim (if other than R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)
~ Tally (if R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
~ Grade Stamped
~ Wrapped
~ # of Loads
~ Transport
~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Board Footage
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~ Unit Size
~ And one of either US or CDN FOB Mill Prices.
Profile or Supplemental selections are not mandatory pieces of information.
It is not mandatory to select whether you are making Bar Coding or Tarping
available on a load; but be advised that The Wood Products System will default
to
"No" for both of these fields.
If you have a bar coding charge and tarping charge registered in your
Company Member Information File, this charge will be calculated into the final
cost
of goods on the Sales Contract and Invoice if "Yes" has been selected on the
Lumber
Offer form for Bar Coding Available and Tarping Available.
If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the submit Tnis offer
button, The Wood Products System will let you know. For example, as shown in
Figure 60.
Clicking oK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that
i
requires the selection or input.
Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the form. Simply click on a field
name, such as "Seller Accounts" to display Pop-Up Help. See Heap for severs on
page
109.
LUMBER OFFER TEMPLATES
Selling Traders have the ability to save the details of an Offer as a template
for retrieval and submission at another time.
CREATE AND NAME A LUMBER OFFER TEMPLATE
' To create and name a Lumber Offer Template, select a value for all the
fields
you want to describe in your Offer.
Note: Seller Accounts, Ship Date Week Of, FOB Mill Price and Board
Footage inputs will not be saved in a template.
At the bottom of the screen is the Temp~ates management area as shown in
Figure 6P.
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Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must
name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest
you
name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a
typical
lumber Offer consists of the following information: 7 loads of SPF 2x6 R/L
10/10
8/12 20/I4 15/16 #2&BTR GS PUTT S4S KD 19 by A-Frame Ship Date-1998-09-28
and the FOB MiI1 Price is $350. There may be a comment such as ''This is
premium
wood." This is too much information to include in a template name. Therefore,
it will
be up to each individual Selling Trader to choose what criteria are the most
important
to help him/her quickly recognize exactly what THIS template is. Perhaps an
appropriate name would be 7SPF-2x6-R/L-2&BTR-KD19.
TEMPLATE NAME TIPS
There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.
Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks -- colons,
semi-colons, commas, and periods -- are not allowed.
< «
If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the
Save button, you will receive an error message.
Upon clicking oK, The Wood Products System will take you back to the
Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the
character, and
you will be able to save the template.
You will notice that you will not be able to use 10'6" in your naming of a
template. We offer two suggestions: ~of~s, or ~o-s.
SAVE AN OFFER TEMPLATE
Once you have input the Template Name, click on save. The newly saved
template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box.
SELECT AND LOAD AN OFFER TEMPLATE
Click on the arrow to the right of the Select templates selection list. This
action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to
scroll
down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release
your
mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name
to take
you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll
up or
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down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list,
you
can see the details of each template appear in the Offer form. When you locate
the
template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key.
Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:
~. Change the Offer in some way and save as a new template
2. Add the Seller Account, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, FOB Mill Price
and any
Comments needed, then submit it as an Offer to The Wood Products System by
clicking
the Submit button.
a. Delete a saved template.
1 O SELECT AND DELETE AN OFFER TEMPLATE
Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located
the template you want to delete, simply click the Delete key and it will
remove the
saved template from your selection list.
Lumber Offer Inputs and Selections
LUMBER OFFER SELECTION LISTS
The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Lumber Offer
form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their
drop-down
boxes.
SELLER ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST
The Seller Accounts Selection List will include all Accounts a Selling Trader
has permission to sell for. Accounts are assigned to Selling Traders by their
Administrators.
The default list item for Seller Accounts is the last Account for which the
Seller carried out a transaction.
SPECIES SELECTION LIST
Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Lumber Species selection
list. They include:
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
sYP Southern Yellow
Pine
SPF Spruce-Pine-Fir
Hem-Fir Hem-Fir
D Fir Douglas Fir
D Fir-Larch Douglas Fir-Larch
WR Cedar Western Red Cedar
In. Red CedarInland Red Cedar
Sitka Sitka Spruce
L Pine Lodgepole Pine
P Pine Ponderosa Pine
Id. W. Pine Idaho White Pine
EW Pine Eastern White Pine
Sugar Pine Sugar Pine
Redwood Redwood
Cal. Red California Red
Fir Fir
Hem-Tam Eastern Hemlock-
Tamarack
E. Hem Eastern Hemlock
WW Pine Western White Pine
Radiata PineRadiata Pine
Jack Pine Jack Pine
Red Pine Red Pine
Tamarack Tamarack
EW Cedar Eastern White Cedar
Incense CedarIncense Cedar
Yellow CedarYellow Cedar
Aspen Aspen
Poplar Poplar
Yellow PoplarYellow Poplar
White Birch White Birch
B CottonwoodBlack Cottonwood
Alder Red Alder
The default list item for Lumber Species is a blank item.
The full names for Lumber Species and their abbreviated names will be
available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
THICKNESS SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes 1/2, 4/4, S/4, 6/4,
7/4, 8/4, 10/4, 12/4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
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The default list item for Thickness is a blank item.
WIDTH SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Width Selection List items, in inches, include:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12.
The default list item for Width is a blank item.
LENGTH SELECTION LISTS
Lumber Length Selection List consists of two drop-down boxes. The first
drop-down box lists R/L as the first item, and then the # of "feet" in length,
from 1' to
48' in increments of 1'. The default list item for Length/Feet is a blank
item.
The second drop-down box lists the # of "inches" in length, from 0" to 11" in
increments of 1 ". The inches length items will include the quotation mark
(denoting
inches) after the number, as in 6".
The default for the Length/Inches drop-down box is 0".
TRIM SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Trim Selection List items include:
PET TBA, DET, Mill Cut, and the standard PET trim lengths: PET 120",
PET I 16-5/8", PET 116", PET 108", PET 105", PET 104-S/8", PET 104-1/2", PET
96", PET 94-1/4", PET 94-1/8", PET 93-1/4", PET 93", PET 92-S/8", PET 92-1/2",
PET 92-1/4", PET 91-1/4", PET 91", PET 88-1/2", PET 88", PET 87-3/4", PET 87",
PET 86-5/8", PET 86-1/2", PET 84", PET 82", PET 81-314", PET 74", PET 72",
PET 60", PET 48", and PET 36".
The default list item for Trim is a blank item.
SURFACE SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Surface Selection List items include:
S4S, S 1 S2E, S2S, S3 S, RGH, S 1 S, S 1 E, S2E, S 1 S 1 E, S2S 1 E, RGH HDD,
and RED.
The default list item for Surface is a blank item.
MOISTURE SELECTION LIST
Lumber Moisture Selection List includes Green, KD 19, KD 15, Kiln Wets,
Ind. KD, and KD AT.
The default for the Moisture drop-down box is a blank item.
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GRADES SELECTION LIST
Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Lumber Grades selection
list. They include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
#1 & BTR #1 & BTR
#1 #1
#2 #2
#2 & BTR #2 & BTR
STD & BTR STD & BTR
Const. STD Construction Standard
Stud Stud
Select Select
Select Struc. Select Structural
Utl. Utility
Utl. & BTR Utility & BTR
#3 #3
#3 & BTR #3 & BTR
PMO PMO
Econ. Economy
#4 #4
#4 & BTR #4 & BTR
1650f MSR 1650f Machine Stress
Rated
1800f MSR 1800f Machine Stress
Rated
2100f MSR 2100f Machine Stress
Rated
2250f MSR 2250f Machine Stress
Rated
2400f MSR 2400f Machine Stress
Rated
2700f MSR 2700f Machine Stress
Rated
C&BTR C&BTR
D D
D&BTR D&BTR
Choice & BTR Choice & BTR
Const. Construction
STD Standard
Sterling Sterling
Quality Quality
Ind. Industrial
Mldg. Moulding
Rgh. Mldg. Rough Moulding &
& BTR BTR
Premium Premium
# 1 Shop # 1 Shop
#2 Shop #2 Shop
#3 Shop #3 Shop
1 Common 1 Common
2 Common 2 Common
3 Common 3 Common
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
4 Common 4 Common
5 Common 5 Common
A A
A Grade A Grade
Appearance Appearance
B & BTR Ind. B & Better Industrial
B Grade B Grade
B L~. B Laminating
C Ind. C Industrial
C Select C Select
Choice Choice
Clear Clear
Clr. Hrt. Struc.Clear Heart Structural
Clr. Struc. Clear Structural
Clr. V G Hrt. Clear V G Heart
Const. Common Construction Common
Const. Heart Construction Heart
Cutting Cutting
C & BTR Dim. C & BTR Dimension
D Ind. D Industrial
D Ind. Clear D Industrial Clear
D Lam. D Laminating
D Select D Select
Dense Dense
Dse. Sel. Struc.Dense Select Structural
Dunnage Du~ge
Exp. Joint Expansion Joint
Factory Factory
Fact. Primed Factory Primed
Fact. Sel. Factory Select
Fact. Sel. Factory Select (#3
(#3 Clr.) Clear)
Finish Finish
Finish B & Finish B & BTR
B
Finish C Finish C
Finish C & Finish C & BTR
BTR
Finish D Finish D
#1 Foundation #1 Foundation
Ind. Fact. Industrial Factory
Sel. Select
Knotty Knotty
L1 L1
L 1-C (Lam.) L 1-C Laminating
L 1-Dense Lam.L 1-Dense Laminating
L2 L2
L2-D L2-D
L2-D Dense L2-D Dense Laminating
Lam.
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
L2-Lam. L2-Laminating
L3-Lam. L3-Laminating
M-6 MEL M-6 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
M-10 MEL M-10 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
M-19 MEL M-19 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
M-23 MEL M-23 Machine.Evaluated
Lumber
Merck. Merchantable
Merck. Hrt. Merchantable Heart
# 1 Struc. # 1 Structural
Patio 1 Patio 1
Patio 2 Patio 2
Pitch SelectsPitch Selects
Prime Prime
Prime #2 Prime #2
Pr. Finish Prime Finish
Qual. Knty. Quality Knotty
Scaffold #1 Scaffold #1
Scaffold #2 Scaffold #2
Select KnottySelect Knotty
Select Shop Select Shop
Selected Selected
Sel. 2 CommonSelected 2 Common
Sel. 3 CommonSelected 3 Common
Shop Shop
Stained Sel. Stained Selects
The full names for Lumber Grades and their abbreviated names will be
available to Sellers in the On-Line Help area of the Web site.
GRADE STAMPED SELECTION LIST
Lumber Grade Stamped Selection List includes GS (for Grade Stamped) and
NGS (for Not Grade Stamped).
The default list item for Grade Stamped is a blank item.
WRAPPED SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Wrapped Selection List items include:
10 P/W (for Paper Wrapped), PUTT (for Poly Under Top Tier), Open, and P-
Cap (for Paper Capped).
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SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Supplemental Selection List items include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
PT CCA.2S Pressure Treated
CCA.2S
PT CCA.40 Pressure Treated
CCA.40
PT CCA.60 Pressure Treated
CCA.60
PT CCA.80 Pressure Treated
CCA.80
FGR JNT Finger Joint
Pre-DrilledPre-Drilled
The default list item for Supplemental is a blank item.
S PROFILE SELECTION LIST
Short forms will be used for the items in the Lumber Profile selection list.
They include T&G (for Tongue & Groove), Shiplap, Flooring, Stepping, and Bevel
Siding.
The full names for Lumber Profiles and their short forms will be available to
Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST
# of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ... through to 30
loads.
The default list item for # of Loads is 1 load.
1 S TRANSPORT SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Transport Selection List items include:
RAIL: TRUCKS:
SD Box TEL
DD Box B Train
SO' box Super B
S2' box Closed Van
60' box 3 Axle
SO' BH Pig Van
S2' BH
S2' A-frame
SS' A-frame
S3' NBH
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RAIL: TRUCKS:
55' BH
5T BH
60' NBH
60' Centerbeam
60' BH
60' A-frame
66' BH
71 A-frame
73 A-frame
The default list item for Transport is a blank item.
SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Ship Date Week of Selection List Input includes a drop-down
5 list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will
appear in this
format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note, the date format may be
displayed as mm-dd-yy).
The default list item for Ship Date Week Of is the week following the current
week. The current week will not be available to Sellers.
1 O LUMBER OFFER RADIO BUTTONS
The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Lumber Offer Form:
BAR CODING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
Lumber Bar Coding Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes"
or "No" to the implied question, "Is bar coding available for this shipment of
15 lumber?" The Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Lumber
Bar
Coding charge at the time of registration. This charge will be shown to Buyers
at the
Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation page. This amount will
appear
to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and will be added into the cost of
goods
on the Invoice.
20 The default for this input will be "No".
TARPING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
Lumber Tarping Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes" or
"No" to the implied question, "Is tarping available for this shipment of
lumber?" The
Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Lumber Tarping charge
at the
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time of registration. A Mill may offer to tarp its shipments for free. This
charge will
be shown to Buyers at the Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation
page. This amount will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and
will
be added into the cost of goods on the Invoice.
The default for this input will be "No".
$US FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
$US FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Selling Trader to choose
the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be "checked".
$CDN FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
$CDN FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Canadian Selling
Trader to choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be
based on
whether the account is US or CDN.
LUMBER OFFER INPUT TEXT AREAS
The following Text Inputs appear on the Lumber Offer Form:
LUMBER BOARD FOOTAGE INPUT
The Lumber Board Footage Input facilitates the inputting of text in response
to the implied question, "What is the board foot quantity of lumber offered in
this
shipment of lumber?" The input box will allow for a maximum of six digits and
no
commas should be input. This amount will appear to Buyers on the Make a Bid
page, the Bid Details page, and the Sales Contract. This amount will appear to
Sellers
on the Offer Details page, and the Sales Contract. This amount may be changed
on
the Invoice to reflect the actual board footage of the shipment.
CDN FOB MILL PRICE INPUT
The Lumber CDN FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in
response to the implied question, "What is your Canadian FOB Mill Price for
this
shipment of lumber?" Canadian Mills selling lumber to Canadian Buyers will
input
Canadian Mill Prices.
There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the
currency the Buyer must bid in, and that the Offer is sold in. No periods or
commas
should be input in this field.
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US FOB MILL PRICE TEXT INPUT
Lumber FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to
the implied question, "What is your US FOB Mill Price for this shipment of
lumber?" (US) FOB Mill Prices will be input by US Mills selling lumber to US
or
Canadian Buyers, and CDN Mills selling lumber to US Buyers.
There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the
currency the Buyer must Bid in, and that the Offer is sold in. No periods or
commas
should be input in this field.
COMMENTS INPUT
The Lumber Comments Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to
the implied question, "Is there anything special or important about this Offer
that you
think Buying Traders should know?" (e.g., "This is premium white balsam.")
I S TALLY INPUT
The Lumber Tally Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the
implied question, "How many units of each different length of lumber are you
offering to ship in this order of Random Lengths?" The Tally input is
mandatory if
R/L has been selected in the Length/Feet selection list.
UNIT SIZE INPUT
Lumber Unit Size Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the
implied question, "How many pieces per unit are included in this shipment of
lumber?" The input box will allow for a maximum of three digits.
Lumber Offer Action Objects
SUBMIT THIS OFFER
submit Tnis offer button prompts The Wood Products SystemT"' to send the
Offer information to The Wood Products SystemTM. It generates a Lumber Offer
Details Confirmation page.
CLEAR THIS OFFER
To clear the form of all selections, choose one of the following:
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~ Click on the Make Lumber Offer item in the Lower Navigation Bar under Sell
~ Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.
CONFIRM OFFER DETAILS
5 The simple Java dialogue box shown in Figure 6Q offers the Selling Trader a
chance to review the Offer Details before submitting them to The Wood Products
System.
Clicking on oK will submit the Offer, and generate a Lumber Offer Details
page. Clicking on cancel will return the Seller to the current Make a Lumber
Offer
page.
LUMBER OFFER CONFIRMATION
When a Selling Trader submits an Offer to The Wood Products System, s/he
receives confirmation from The Wood Products System that the Offer was
received
via a Lumber Offer Details page as shown in Figure 6R. It receives an Offer ID
#, is
date and time stamped, and its active status is noted (e.g., Offer Status:
ACT). All
the details of the Offer are presented in the same order as the Lumber Offer
form:
Seller Name, Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface,
Moisture,
Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapped, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport,
Bar
20 Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, Unit Size, FOB Mill
Price,
and Comments. Clicking on the Monitor offers button will take the Seller to
the
Monitor Offers area of the Web site.
Numbering of Offers
Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an
Offer. The Offer # "099050009837" consists of the following:
~ o for Offer.
~ 99 - A two-digit # denoting the year the Offer is submitted.
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~ 05 - A two-digit # denoting the month the Offer is submitted.
~ 0009837 - A seven-digit identification #.
MAKE PANEL OFFERS
The Make Panel Offers form shown in Figure 6S allows Sellers to create
panel offerings and publish them to The Wood Products System.
Mandatory Fields
Each field on the Panel Offer form describes the Offer to the Buying Trader.
For this reason, there are certain fields that are mandatory, and for which
the Selling
Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the Panel Offer form
are
highlighted on the Offer form with an asterisk beside the name. They are:
~ Seller Accounts
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ SIZe
~ Grade
~ Profile
~ # of Loads
~ Transport
~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Square Footage
~ Unit Size
~ And one of either FOB Mill or CDN FOB Mill Prices.
.
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Supplemental is not a mandatory selection. It is not mandatory to select
whether you are making Bar Coding or Tarping available on a load; but be
advised
that The Wood Products System will default to "No" for both of these fields.
If you have a bar coding charge and tarping charge registered in your
Company Member Information File, this charge will be calculated into the final
cost
of goods on the Sales Contract and Invoice if "Yes" has been selected on the
Lumber
Offer form for Bar Coding Available and Tarping Available.
If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the submit This offer
button, The Wood Products System will let you know.
Clicking oK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that
requires the selection or input.
Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the form. Simply click on a field
name, such as "Seller Accounts" to display Pop-Up Help. See Heip for severs on
page
109.
Panel Offer Templates
Selling Traders have the ability to save the details of an Offer as a template
for retrieval and submission at another time.
CREATE AND NAME A PANEL OFFER TEMPLATE
To create and name a Panel Offer Template, select a value in all the fields
you want to describe your Offer.
Note: Seller Accounts, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and FOB Mill
Price inputs will not be saved in a template.
At the bottom of the screen is the Templates management area, as shown
above in Figure 6P.
Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must
name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest
you
name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a
typical
panel Offer consists of the following information: 1 load of 5/8, 4x12, #2
Pine,
shipped by A-Frame, Ship Date-1998-09-28 and the FOB Mill Price is $250. There
may be a comment such as "Cannot change ship date." This is too much
information
to include in a template name. Therefore, it will be up to each individual
Selling
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Trader to choose what criteria are the most important to help him quickly
recognize
exactly what THIS template is. Perhaps an appropriate name would be: 1-5/8-
4x12-
#2-Pine.
TEMPLATE NAME TIPS
There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.
Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks -- colons,
semi-colons, commas, and periods -- are not allowed.
c cc ~ .
If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the
save button, you will receive an error message.
Upon clicking oic, The Wood Products SystemTM will take you back to the
Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the
character, and
you will be able to save the template.
SAVE AN OFFER TEMPLATE
Once you have input the Template Name, click on save. The newly saved
1 S template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box.
SELECT AND LOAD AN OFFER TEMPLATE
Click on the arrow to the right of the Select templates selection list. This
action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to
scroll
down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release
your
mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name
to take
you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll
up or
down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list,
you
can see the details of each template appear in the Offer form. When you locate
the
template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key.
Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:
Change the Offer in some way and save as a new template
2. Add the Seller Account, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, FOB Mill Price
and any
Comments needed, then submit it as an Offer to The Wood Products SystemT'" by
clicking the Submit button.
s. Delete a saved template.
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SELECT AND DELETE AN OFFER TEMPLATE
Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located
the template you want to delete, simply click the Delete key and it will
remove the
saved template from your selection list.
S Panel Offer Inputs and Selections
PANEL OFFER SELECTION LISTS
The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Panel Offer form.
The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their drop-
down boxes.
SELLER ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST
The Seller Accounts Selection List will include all Accounts a Selling Trader
has permission to sell for. Accounts are assigned to Selling Traders by their
Administrators.
The default list item for Seller Accounts is the last Account for which the
Seller earned out a transaction.
1S SPECIES SELECTION LIST
The Panel Species Selection List includes the following items:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
Fir Fir
Poplar Poplar
Pine Pine
oSB OSB
CSP CSP
Wafer Board Wafer Board
HDO High Density Overlay
MDO Medium Density Overlay
LUAN LUAN
The default list item for Panel Species is a blank item.
THICKNESS SELECTION LIST
The Panel Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes:
1/8, 3/16, 11/32, 1/4, S/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1S/32, 1/2, 19/32, S/8, 11/16, 23/32,
3/4,
1, and 1-1/8.
The default list item for Panel Thickness is a blank item.
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SIZE SELECTION LIST
The Panel Size Selection List includes the following items, in feet:
4x4, 3x6, 4x8, 4x9, 4x10, 4x12, 5x8, 5x10, and 5x12.
The default list item for Panel Size is a blank item.
S GRADE SELECTION LIST
Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Panel Grades selection
list. They include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
Rtd. Shtg. Rated Sheathing
Shtg. Sheathing
Select Shtg. Select Sheathing
Tight Face Select Tight Face Select
CDX CDX
CCX CCX
D Grade D Grade
APA Struc 1 R/S APA Structural 1 Rated
Sheathing
Mill Certified Mill Certified
APA Rtd. S-I-F APA Rated Stur-I-Floor
Underlayment Underlayment
Sel. U/L Select Underlayment
STD STD
pAX AA Exterior
ABX AB Exterior
ACX AC Exterior
BBX BB Exterior
BCX BC Exterior
BB Plyform BB Plyform
G 1 S Good 1 Side
G2S Good 2 Side
S1S SIS
S2S S2S
Shop Shop
Factory Factory
APA Rtd. Siding APA Rated Siding 303-6
303-6
APA Rtd. Siding APA Rated Siding 303-18
303-18
APA Decorative APA Decorative Siding
Siding
The default list item for Panel Grades is a blank item.
The full names for Panel Grades and their abbreviated names will be
available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
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PANEL PROFILE SELECTION LIST
The Panel Profile Selection List items include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
T&G Tongue & Groove
COFI T&G COFI Tongue & Groove
S~ Square Edge
T1-11-1-1/4" T1-11-1-1/4"
Tl-11-1-1/8" T1-11-1-1/8"
RB&B 12" Reverse Board & Batten
12"
Channel Groove Channel Groove 4"
4"
Channel Groove Channel Groove 8"
8"
Ship Lapped
The default list item for Panel Profiles is a blank item.
S SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST
Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Panel Supplemental
selection list. They include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
3 Ply 3 Ply
3 Ply P&TS 3 Ply Plugged and Touched
Sanded
4 Ply 4 Ply
4 Ply P&TS 4 Ply Plugged & Touched Sanded
Ply 5 Ply
5 Ply P&TS 5 Ply Plugged & Touched Sanded
Full Sand Full Sand
O&ES Oiled and Edged Sealed
P&TS Plugged and Touched Sanded
Rough Sawn Rough Sawn
Rough Sawn - NG Rough Sawn - No Grooves
Smooth - S/S Smooth - Scratch Sand
The default list item for Panel Supplemental is a blank item.
The full names for Panel Supplemental list items and their abbreviated names
will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST
# of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ... through to 30
loads.
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The default list item for # of Loads is 1 load.
TRANSPORT SELECTION LIST
The Panel Transport Selection List items include:
RAIL; TR UCKS:
SD Box T~-
DD Box B Train
50' box Super B
52' box Closed Van
60' box 3 Axle
50' BH Pig Van
52' BH
52' A-frame
55- A-frame
53' NBH
55' BH
5T BH
60' NBH
60' Centerbeam
60' BH
60' A-frame
66' BH
71 A-frame
73 A-frame
The default list item for Transport is a blank item.
S SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST .
The Panel Ship Date Week of Selection List Input includes a drop-down list
of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will appear in
this
format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note: due to Microsoft bugs,
the date
format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy).
The default list item for Ship Date Week Of is the week following the current
week. The current week will not be available to Sellers.
RADIO BUTTONS
The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Panel Offer Form.
BAR CODING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
The Panel Bar Coding Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes"
or "No" to the implied question, "Is bar coding available for this shipment of
panel?"
The Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Panel Bar Coding
charge
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at the time of registration. This charge will be shown to Buyers at the Make a
Bid
page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation page. This amount will appear to
Sellers
and Buyers on the Sales Contract and will be added into the cost of goods on
the
Invoice.
The default for this input will be "No".
TARPING AVAILABLE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
The Panel Tarping Available Radio Button Input allows a choice of "Yes" or
"No" to the implied question, "Is tarping available for this shipment of
panel?" The
Selling Member will be requested to input their Mill's Panel Tarping charge at
the
time of registration. A Mill may offer to tarp its shipments for free. This
charge will
be shown to Buyers at the Make a Bid page, and the Accepted Bid Confirmation
page. This amount will appear to Sellers and Buyers on the Sales Contract and
will
be added into the cost of goods on the Invoice.
The default for this input will be "No".
$US FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
$US FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Canadian Selling Trader
to choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be
"checked".
$CDN FOB MILL PRICE RADIO BUTTON INPUT
$CDN FOB Mill Price Radio Button Input allows the Selling Trader to
choose the currency of the Offer. The default for this input will be based on
whether
the account is CDN or US.
INPUT TEXT AREAS
The following Text Inputs appear on the Panel Offer Form.
CDN FOB MILL PRICE INPUT
Panel CDN FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response
to the implied question, "What is your Canadian FOB mill price for this
shipment of
panel?" Canadian Mills selling panel to Canadian Buyers will input Canadian
Mill
Prices. No periods of commas should be input in this field.
There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the
currency the in which the Buyer must Bid and pay.
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US FOB MILL PRICE TEXT INPUT
Panel FOB Mill Price Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to
the
implied question, "What is your US FOB Mill Price for this shipment of panel?"
US
Mills selling panel to US or Canadian Buyers, and Canadian Mills selling panel
to
US Buyers.will input FOB Mill Prices.
There is one price allowed per Offer. The currency an Offer is made in, is the
currency in which the Buyer must Bid and pay. No periods of commas should be
input in this field.
COMMENTS INPUT
The Panel Comments Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the
implied question, "Is there anything special or important about this Offer
that Buying
Traders should know?" (e.g., "Must accept Ship Date Week.")
SQUARE FOOTAGE INPUT
The Panel Square Footage Input facilitates the inputting of text in response
to
the implied question, "What is the square foot quantity of panels offered in
this
shipment?" This input box will allow for a maximum of six characters and no
commas should be input. This amount will appear to Buyers on the make a Panel
Bid page, the Bid Details page and the Sales Contract. This amount will appear
to
Sellers on the Offer Details page and the Sales Contract. This amount maybe
changed on the Invoice to reflect the actual square footage of the shipment.
UNIT SIZE INPUT
The Panel Unit Size Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the
implied question, "How many pieces per unit are included in this shipment of
panel?" The input box will allow for a maximum of three digits.
Action Objects
SUBMIT THIS OFFER
Submit This Offer button prompts The Wood Products SystemTM to send the
Offer information to The Wood Products SystemTM. It generates a Lumber Offer
Details Confirmation page.
CLEAR THIS OFFER
To Clear the form of all its selections, choose one of the following:
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~. Click on the Make Panel Offer item in the Lower Navigation Bar under "Sell"
2. Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.
CONFIRM OFFER DETAILS
S A simple dialogue box as shown above in figure 6Q offers the Selling Trader
a chance to review the Offer Details before submitting them to The Wood
Products
System.
Clicking on otc will submit the Offer, and generate a Panel Offer Details
page. Clicking on cancer will return the Seller to the current Make a Panel
Offer
IO page.
PANEL OFFER CONFIRMATION
When a Selling Trader submits an Offer to The Wood Products System, s/he
receives confirmation from The Wood Products System that the Offer was
received
15 via a Panel Offer Details page shown in Figure 6T. It receives an Offer #,
is date and
time stamped, and its active status is noted (Offer Status: ACT}.
All the details of the Offer are presented in the same layout as the Offer
form:
Seller Name, Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of
Loads,
Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, Unit Size,
20 FOB Mill Price, and Comments.
Clicking on the Monitor offers button will take the Seller to the Monitor
Offers
area of the Web site.
MONITOR OFFERS
The Selling Trader's Monitor Offers page produces a summary of all valid
25 Offers the Trader has posted to The Wood Products System, as shown in
Figure 6U.
The Monitor Offers page allows Selling Traders to accomplish the following
tasks:
~ Monitor all Bids on outstanding Offers
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~ Cancel Offers
~ View Bid details on a selected Offer
~ View Comments on a selected Bid
~ Accept a Bid on an Offer
~ Delete Bids on an Offer
~ Receive Notification when a Buyer has requested a change in shipment
destination on a
Sales Contract
If a Seller trades in lumber, this page will list all his Lumber Offers,
organized by Account. If a Seller trades in panel, it will list all his Panel
Offers,
10 organized by Account. If a Seller trades in both lumber and panel, Offers
for both
will appear in the same summary table, first sorted by Lumber or Panel, and
then
organized by Account.
The Offers will be ordered by time of submission.
Monitor Offers Table
15 Pop-Up Help is available for every column heading in the table. Simply
click
on a column heading, such as "Offer #" to display Pop-Up Help. See Heip for
Sellers
on page 109.
The information provided to Sellers at the Monitor Offers page is displayed
in a table. The table displays the listings of all valid Offers a Seller has
posted to The
20 Wood Products SystemTM. The details displayed to the Selling Trader in the
Monitor
Offers table appear in columns. From left to right, the column headings
include:
~ Offer #: Clicking on the Offer # will generate the Offer Details page.
~ # of Bids on the Offer: The magnifying glass icon will appear when there are
Bids on an
Offer. Clicking on this icon will display the Bids on the Offer in an Expanded
View
25 table.
~ Asking Price: The Seller's Offer Price.
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~ Top Bid Price: The Buyer's Equivalent Offer Price (the Bid Price less
Freight and - the
Transaction Fee).
~ Top Bid Expiry Time
~ Selected Lumber Offer Details, in the following order:
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Width
~ Length
~ Trim or Tally
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
~ Grade Stamped
~ Wrapping
~ Supplemental
~ Profile
~ # of Loads
~ Transport
~ Bar Coding
~ Tarping
~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Board Footage
~ Unit Size
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~ Selected Panel Offer Details, in the following order:
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Size
~ Grade
~ Profile
~ Supplemental
~ # of Loads
~ Transport
~ Bar Coding
~ Tarping
~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Square Footage
~ Unit Size
~ Comments: Comments may be viewed by clicking on the cloud icon in this
column.
~ Cancel Offer: By clicking on the (X) in the Cancel Offer column, the Offers
will be
cancelled and cleared from the Monitor Offers page. Bids made against the
cancelled
Offer will be voided.
~ An Offer Details page is displayed in a second browser window when the Offer
# is
clicked. To close the window, click on the X button at the top right corner of
the page.
Figure 6V is an example of a Lumber Offer Details page generated by
clicking on an Offer #.
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Bid Expansion Table
By clicking on the magnifying glass icon beside the # of Bids on an Offer, the
Trader will produce an expanded view of all Bids made against a selected
Offer, a
shown in Figure 6W.
The information provided in this expanded view is displayed in a table,
ranked according to Bid Price (top Bid price listed first), and next according
to Bid
Expiry Time (first to expire listed first). The Bid Expansion Table column
headings
include:
~ Delete or Accept Bid
~ Bid #
~ Buyer Name
~ Changes to Offer
~ Bid Price
~ Expires
I S ~ Comments
At this Bid Expansion Table, the Trader may do the following:
Delete any Bids that he knows he will not consider (because the Bid price is
too low, or
because he doesn't like the conditions the Buyer placed on the Offer). A
Selling Trader
would delete a Bid by clicking in the check box beside the Bid # in the Delete
or Accept
Bid column. The Trader may check as many boxes as he wishes. Clicking on the X
in the
column heading will clear the Bids from the screen.
2. Accept any Bids on an Offer by clicking in the check box beside the Bid #
in the Delete
or Accept Bid column. Clicking on the check mark in the column heading will
accept the Bids.
s. View the Profile page of a Buyer by clicking on the Buyer Name (this
profile will be for
the Buying Account of the associated company).
4. View the changes a Buyer has made to the Offer as a condition of his Bid in
the Changes
to Offer column. Only those things that differ from the original Offer will
appear in this
column.
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s. View the comments a Buyer has included on a specific Offer by clicking on
the cloud
icon in the Comments column.
Bids shown in the expanded view table will display one currency only, since
the currency placed on an Offer is the currency in which it must be sold.
Confirm Bid Details
The simple dialogue box shown in Figure 6X offers the Selling Trader a
chance to review the Bid Details before finally accepting them.
Clicking on oK will generate Sales Contracts for the accepted Bids.
Clicking on cancer will return the Seller to the current Expanded View Table.
Multiple Bids
A Selling Trader on a multiple load Offer will be able to mark and then select
as a group any # of Bids on the condition that the total Bid loads does not
exceed the
total # of loads specified in the original Offer.
Should the amount of loads for the selected Bids exceed the original loads on
the Offer, the Seller will be presented with the error message shown in Figure
6Y.
The original selected Bids will be displayed and the Seller may remove or
add as required.
The original Offer is cleared from the active Offers list once the Bids) are
accepted (in the same manner as for Offers with only one Bid).
The Offer will not be automatically re-submitted if the amount of accepted
Bid loads are less than the original Offer loads. The Seller will have to
submit a new
Offer for the remaining loads should he/she so wish.
MONITOR OFFERS PAGE FOR MULTIPLE B1DS
~ The selling trader will be presented with a list of Bids against his/her
Offer as it is
currently laid out on the Monitor Offers Page.
~ The Bids will be ordered from highest to lowest Bid price
~ In the "Bid Expansion Table", a selection "checkbox" will be presented next
to each Bid.
~ The Seller can select or check multiple Bids.
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~ The Seller has two icons at the top of the list that allows him/her to
"Reject" or "Accept"
the selected Bids. To accept the checked multiple Bids, the Seller would click
on the
checkmark icon.
~ After Accepting the Bids) the Seller is requested to confirm the acceptance
of the
selected Bid or to cancel it.
Monitor Offers Rules
~ Bids will expire in 30 minutes from the time the Bid was created on The Wood
Products
SystemT"', unless deleted from the Monitor Offers table by the Selling Trader.
~ Offers will expire at the end of day, 7 business days from the time the
Offer was created
on The Wood Products SystemT"', unless cancelled from the Monitor Offers table
by the
Selling Trader.
~ At Log Off, Selling Traders are informed of the # of active Offers they have
on The
Wood Products SystemT"'. They may delete them all at the Log Off page. If they
want to
delete selected ones only, they must return to the Monitor Offers page to do
so.
~ If a Selling Trader is automatically logged off due to inactivity for 30
minutes, all active
Offers are placed on hold.
~ If an Offer is cancelled, all Bids against that Offer will be cancelled.
~ An Accepted Bid is irrevocable.
~ Offers are cancelled at the suspension of an associated Account or User.
~ Confirmation of an Accepted Bid for a Seller is the generation of the Sales
Contract.
~ Confirmation of an Accepted Bid for a Buyer is the Notification message box
at the
Monitor Bids page linked to the matching Sales Contract and an Audio Alarm
message
(if activated), and the status of the Bid turning to "A" for Accepted.
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SUPERVISE OFFERS
A Supervisor will act as back-up for Selling Traders, and oversee their
activities. The Selling Supervisor will have access to Supervise Offers area
of the
Web site, as well as Supervise Change Requests. Unless the Supervisor has been
assigned Trader permissions as well, he or she will not b~ allowed to:
~ Make a Lumber Offer
~ Make a Panel Offer
Supervisors are assigned on an Account-by-Account basis. The Selling
Trader Supervisor may:
~ Supervise Offers: Cancel and Accept Bids on Offers, and Cancel Offers
~ View Sales Contracts to download or print
~ Supervise Change Requests, and Accept or Reject them
~ View Selling Reports for those Accounts he or she has been assigned to at
the User Roles
Table, as shown in Figure 6Z.
SELLER SALES CONTRACTS
When a Seller accepts a Bid on an Offer, the Sales Contracts page is
generated as shown in Figure 7A.
In the left frame of the page, the Seller has access to view this Group Sales
Contract by clicking on the SC Group #, or each individual Sales Contract of a
Multiple Load Offer by selecting a SC #.
The status of each Sales Contract is displayed beside the individual Sales
Contract #s. The possible statuses of a Sales Contract are:
~ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer
~ V for Viewed by the Buyer
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~ CR for Change Request
~ NA for Change Request Not Accepted
~ A for Change Request Accepted
~ INV for Invoiced
~ CNCL for Cancelled
~ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled
In the right frame of the page, is the Group Sales Contract information. At
the
top of the page, the Sales Contract Group #, the Date it was issued, the
associated
Offer and Bid #s, and the Seller Name appear.
In the table directly below it, the Transport selected on the Offer appears in
the first column, then the Accepted Bid Details. Accepted Bid Lumber Details
are
displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or
Tally,
Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of
Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and
1 S Unit Size. This column is followed by the Approx. Quantity, Unit Size, and
Ship
Date columns.
Accepted Bid Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species,
Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar
Coding,
Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size. This column is
followed by Approx. Quantity, Unit Size, and Ship Date columns.
The next table on the Sales Contracts page provides the following
information:
~ SC #: This column lists the Sales Contract #s for each load of the accepted
Bid.
~ Buyer Name: The Buyer whose Bid was accepted appears here.
~ FOB Mill Price: The Seller's Equivalent Bid Price (the Bid Price less
Freight, and - the
Transaction Fee).
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~ FOB Destination Price: The Buyer's Equivalent Bid Price (the Bid Price
including
Freight).
~ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or
MSF}.
~ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF (or MSF) for the Offer.
(MBF =
Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided
by
1000.)
~ Approx. Total (Net of Taxes): The Extended Price + the Tarping Charge (per
load).
Below this table, the Seller's Bar Coding and Tarping Charges are displayed,
if applicable.
The Seller can leave the Sales Contracts page by selecting Monitor Offers on
the Lower Navigation Bar.
INDIVIDUAL SELLER'S SALES CONTRACTS
Selecting one of the SC #'s from left frame of the page, will generate a
single
Sales Contract page as shown in Figure 7B.
The Sales Contract page is divided into two frames. In the left frame, as at
the
Group Sales Contracts page, there are links to each individual Sales Contract
for an
Offer. By clicking on a SC # in the left frame, a Sales Contract is displayed
in the
right frame.
The information included on the Seller's Sales Contract includes the
following information as shown in Figure 7C.
At the top of the page:
~ The Sales Contract #
~ The Date the Sales Contract was Issued. If an Amended Sales Contract is
issued, the Date
Issued will reflect the date the Amended Sales Contract was issued, which
occurs when
the Seller accepts a Change Request from a Buyer.
~ Offer #
~ Bid #
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In the first table, the following information is provided:
~ Sold By Information
~ Selling Company Name, Account and Address
~ Sold To Information
~ Buying Company Name, Account and Billing Address
~ Ship and Consign To Information
~ Buying Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address-Rail
Carrier & Spur, if needed-is built into shipping address to appear on the
Sales
Contract)
In the second table, the following information is provided:
~ Details of the Lumber Shipment, organized into the following columns:
~ Transport Type
~ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order:
Species,
Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade
Stamped,
Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping,
Ship
Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the
following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of
Loads,
Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit
Size,.
~ Approximate Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage)
~ Unit Size (pieces/unit)
~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Below this, appears the financial information:
~ Buyer Name (Buyer Account)
~ FOB Destination Price: The Buyer's Equivalent Offer Price (the Bid Price
including
Freight).
~ Bar Coding Charge, if applicable
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~ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or
MSF).
~ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF or MSF for the Offer. (MBF
=
Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided
by
1000).
~ Tarping Charge, if applicable.
~ Approximate Total Price, Net of Taxes: The Extended Price + the Tarping
Charge
(per load).
~ Below this appears space for any comments made by the Buyer, Seller or both
on the
Offer and/or Bid.
~ A Close button at the bottom of the page will return the User to the Sales
Contract Group
page.
Downloading
A Download button appears on the page, which allows the User to save it.
Before downloading, create a directory - either on the computer's hard drive
or on the local area network - where the files will be stored. Files can also
be saved
to a floppy disk.
Make sure the Browser's "Security" setting is set to "Medium". To check
this:
~ In the Browser's menu bar at the top of the page, click the View menu item.
~ Select Internet Options.
~ Select the Security tab.
~ Click in the Medium radio button.
~ Click OK.
To download to a file:
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~ Click the Download button, and a window will appear asking "What would you
like to do
with this file?" Click in the "Save this file to disk" radio button (if it is
not already
selected), then click OK.
~ Select the drive and the directory to which the information will be saved.
If a new
S directory needs to be created, click on the folder icon with the star in the
right corner at
the top of the window.
~ At the bottom of the window, give the information a name, by typing in the
text box
beside "File name:" Click the Save button. The dialog box in Figure 7D will
appear
when the it has been saved successfully.
~ Click OK. The file is saved as a tab-delimited text. It may be opened by
using MS Excel
or any word processing program, although it will not be formatted in any way.
Figure 7E
shows an example of how it will look opened up with the program "Notepad".
CHANGE REQUESTS
If a Buyer requests that a shipment of Lumber or Panel be delivered to an
15 alternate location from the one in the Accepted Bid Details, they would
request the
change on their copy of the Sales Contract, and submit it to the Selling
Trader for
approval and acceptance.
A Seller receives Notification of a Change Request via a Notification message
box at the top of the Monitor Offers page. By selecting the message box, the
Trader
20 will be taken to the Change Requests area of the Web site shown in Figure
7F.
Pop-Up Help is available for every column heading in the table. Simply click
on a column heading, such as "SC #" to display Pop-Up Help. See Help for
severs on
page 109.
The Seller can view the requested shipping destination change and the
25 recalculated amounts here, and either Accept or Reject them by clicking in
the
appropriate check box and submitting a response by clicking the submit button
below
the table.
If the Seller rejects a Change Request, the response is sent back to the
Buyer,
and no changes are made to the original Sales Contract.
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If the Seller accepts a Change Request, an Amended Sales Contract is
generated and sent to the Buyer to view.
The Seller may also wish to view more details of the Change Request before
accepting or reject it. To do so, the Seller will click on the SC # to
generate the Sales
Contract page as shown in figure 7G.
The Buyer's requested change in shipment destination will appear in the table
to the right of the original Shipping Destination information. The Requested
Shipping Destination information will include: The New Buyer Name (Buyer
Account), recalculated FOB Destination Price, Sub-Total, Extended Price, and
Approximate Total Price. If a Buyer has added Comments, they will appear on
the
Sales Contract as well. The Seller may input a Comment of his or her own
before
submitting the response. The Seller may select Accept or Reject to submit a
response
to the Buyer.
Notice that in the left frame of the Sales Contract page, the status of the
current Sales Contract is marked cit for Change Request. The only Change
Request
comment that is retained on the new amended Sales Contract is one input by the
Seller when accepting the Change Request.
A Buyer can only request a change in destination to a location that the
Selling
Account has a Freight Rate. There is a drop box that allows the Buyer to
request an
appropriate destination. After the change is made, a Notification will be sent
to the
Selling Trader informing them of the request.
Numbering of Sale Contracts
Sales Contract #s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader accepts
a Bid on an Offer. The Sales Contract # "C99010002837" consists of the
following:
~ C for Sales Contract.
~ 99 - A two-digit # denoting the year the Sales Contract is created.
~ 01 - A two-digit # denoting the month the Sales Contract is created.
~ 0002837 - A seven-digit identification #.
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In the case of a Multiple Load Offer, however, an alpha character is appended
to the Sales Contract #. For example, an Offer of 5 loads would generate Sales
Contracts C99010002837A, C99010002837B, 0990100028370, C99010002837D,
and C99010002837E.
Amended Sales Contracts are created when a Seller agrees to ship an order to
an alternate destination. The Sales Contract # is changed by appending a dash
and
numeral to the end of the Sales Contract #. The Amended Sales Contract # would
be
099010002837 -1, for example. Each time a Sales Contract is changed, the
amended
# is incremented by one. If a Sales Contract is changed 5 times, the final SC
# would
be 099010002837 -5.
In the case of a change being made to one shipment of a Multiple Load Offer,
the dash and numeral would be appended to the Sales Contract # as follows:
C99010002837A-1.
Cancelled Sales Contracts
The Wood Products System Administrator is the only one who is capable of
cancelling a Sales Contract. Under operations, choose Cancel SCs on the Lower
Navigation Bar to display the Cancel SCs page, as shown in Figure 7H.
To view Sales Contracts, select the appropriate Company and Account, and
click the Refresh button. Below the Refresh button, al) Sales Contracts for
which the
company is either the Buyer or the Seller will be displayed, as shown in
Figure 7I. In
order to cancel a SC, click on the checkbox next to the SC #, and then click
on the (x)
at the top of the column.
As soon as this is done, a page is displayed, as shown in fiugre 7J requesting
the reason for the cancellation. After the reason is entered, click the
cont'irm button to
Cancel the Sales Contract.
A User has two ways of viewing Cancelled SCs:
User will be notified before Log Off that there is a Cancelled Sales Contract.
Click on view canceued scs button to transfer to Cancelled SCs page.
User can view Cancelled SCs by clicking on Cancelled SCs in the Lower
Navigation Bar, under seti.
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The User can view the Cancelled Sales Contract by clicking on the SC # on
the left side of the table shown in Figure 7K. All Cancelled SCs will have a
CNCL
in the Status column, which indicates that it has been cancelled.
The cancelled sales contract is shown in Figure 7L. The word canceued is
displayed in red at the top of the Sales Contract, and the Cancellation Reason
will
appear at the bottom of the Cancelled Sales Contract.
REPORTS
SELLING REPORTS
The Reports tab will be available only to those Members who have been given
permission to generate and view reports. Reports are assigned on an Account-by-
Account basis to all Seller Members.
Selling Reports will allow Selling Traders and Supervisors to view historical
information for all Offers, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to
transactions
created by the Company's Traders on The Wood Products SystemTM
I S The Selling Reports area of the Web site, shown in Figure 7M, allows
Selling
Members to select a Company (or all Companies), a Selling Account (or all
Accounts), and a date range, from and to, for each specific type of report.
The types
of reports available to Selling Members are categorized by Offers, Selling
SCs,
Selling invoices, and Cancelled Invoices (Cancelled Invoices Report may only
be
viewed by the Selling Account).
Selecting a Report Type then clicking the Refresh button will generated the
requested report in the right frame of the page.
The oowmoad button allows the Seller to save the Report information (see
Downloading instructions on page 90).
Offer Reports
Figure 7N shows an Offer Report for the Saskfor MacMillan Ltd.'s Saskfor-
Sell Selling Account.
Offer Reports provide Seller Members with the following information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
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~ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Offer Date
~ Offer #: Clicking on the Offer # opens a second browser window with the
selected
Lumber Offer Details or Panel Offer Details page
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Mill Price
~ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))x # of loads
~ Expiry time of the Offer
~ The Trader name associated with the Offer
~ The Offer Status: Act for active, HLD for on hold, CNCL for cancelled, CLS
for
closed, and EXP for expired.
Above the Status column is the Get status Help link that when clicked on
displays the information shown in figure 70.
By clicking on one of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table
by
the information contained in that column.
Sales Contract Reports
Figure 7P shows a Sales Contracts Report for the Company's Selling
Account.
Sales Contract Reports provide Seller Members with the following
information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Date the Sales Contract was Issued
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~ Sales Contract #: Clicking on the SC # opens a second browser window with
the
selected Sales Contract Details page
~ Buyer Name
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Mill Price
~ Total Price (FOB Destination Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))
~ Total CDN Price (if applicable)
~ The Trader name associated with the Offer
~ The Sales Contract Status:
~ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer
~ V for Viewed by the Buyer
~ CR for Change Request
~ NA for Change Request Not Accepted
~ A for Change Request Accepted
~ INV for Invoiced
~ CNCL for Cancelled
~ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled
Above the Status column is the yet status Help link that when clicked on
displays the information shown in Figure 7Q.
~ Clicking on the status item for any Sales Contract will generate a
historical report of
the Sales Contract in a new browser window. This SC History table tracks the
life of
a Sales Contract: status changes, requests for change in destination, through
to
invoicing.
~ The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.
~ The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts.
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By clicking on of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by
the
information contained in that column.
Figure 7R shows a SC History table, generated when a Seller clicks on the
INV status code for Sales Contract # C99060000022A-1.
Invoice Reports
Figure 7S shows an Invoice Report for a Company's Selling Account.
Invoice Reports provide Seller Members with the following information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:
~ Date & Time the Invoice was Issued
~ Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the
selected Invoice Details page
~ Buyer Name
I S ~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Mill Price
~ Total Price (FOB Destination Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))
~ Total CDN Price (if applicable)
~ The Trader name associated with the Offer
~ The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.
~ The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts included
on the
Report.
By clicking on of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by
the
information contained in that column.
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Cancelled Invoice Reports
Figure 7T shows a Cancelled Invoice Report for the Company's Selling
Account.
Cancelled Invoice Reports provide Seller Members with the following
information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:
~ Cancelled Invoice #
~ Cancelled Invoice Date & Time
~ Seller Name
~ Buyer Name
~ Re-Issued Invoice # (if applicable)
~ Re-Issued Invoice Date & Time
~ Re-Issued Invoice Status
By clicking on of the column headings, a Seller is able to sort the table by
the
information contained in that column.
INVOICING
When a shipment has been shipped, the Seller Accountant will create the
Seller Invoice and submit it to The Wood Products SystemTM. The Invoice is
created
from the final Sales Contract details.
The Seller Accountant will click on the operations tab in the Top Navigation
Bar, then on the Invoicing item in the Lower Navigation Bar. This will
generate the
display shown in figure 7U.
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The Invoicing area is divided into two frames. In the left frame, the
Accountant would select a Company and an Account, then click the Refresh
button in
order to generate a list of all Sales Contract #s associated with them. The
Result List,
which appears below the Refresh button, is composed of three columns:
~. INV #: In this column, the Accountant would select the <create> link in
order to create
an Invoice for a particular Sales Contract. The Invoice will display in the
right frame of
the page. Once an Invoice has been submitted, the SC # will no longer appear
in this
frame..
2. SC #: This column lists all Sales Contracts associated with the selected
Company and
Seller Account that have not been invoiced. Clicking on an SC # generates the
Sales
Contract page in the right frame.
3. Buyer Name: The Buyers whose Bids were accepted appear in the third column.
THE SELLER INVOICE
The Invoice that is created for a Sales Contract # includes static information
I S and dynamic fields in which the Accountant will specify the Actual
Shipping Details.
As shown in figure 7V, the Invoice page itself is divided into 5 areas. The
first area, at the top of the Invoice page, includes the Invoice # (generated
by The
Wood Products SystemTM when the invoice is submitted), Today's Date, the
associated Offer, Bid, Sales Contract, and Buyer's PO (if applicable) #'s. The
Accountant can input the Company's P.O. # and Invoice # in the text input
boxes
provided. The second area of the Invoice is a table that provides the
following
information:
~ Sold By Information
~ Selling Company Name, Account and Address
~ Sold To Information
~ Buyer Company Name, Account and Billing Address
~ Ship and Consign To Information
~ Buyer Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address-Rail
Carrier & Spur, if needed-is built into shipping address to appear on the
Sales
Contract)
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The third area of the Invoice is a table with details of the Shipment,
organized
into the following columns:
~ Transport Type
~ Loads (# of loads}-this will indicate the total number of loads in the Bid,
not the loads
S being shipped for this invoice.
~ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order:
Species,
Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade
Stamped,
Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping,
Ship Date
Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the
following
order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads,
Transport, Bar
Coding, Tarping, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.
~ Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage): The Accountant will input the
actual
quantity that is on the truck or rail car
The fourth area of the Invoice consists of a table with the following
information, taken from the final Sales Contract details:
~ Buyer Account
~ FOB Destination Price
~ Number of Pieces-Seller can specify the total # of pieces.
The Accountant inputs the final Shipping information into the fourth area of
the Invoice page. This information includes:
~ Bill of Lading #
~ Actual Ship Date
~ Routing
~ Car #
~ Contact Name for the Shipper
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~ Phone # for the Shipper
The Wood Products SystemTM generates all monetary calculations from pre-
determined algorithms. The following items will be generated on the Invoice:
~ Cost of Goods: FOB Destination Price times Total MBF or MSF divided by 1000,
S rounded to 2 decimals (including shipping & handling). -
~ Bar Coding Charge: Bar Coding Rate times Total MBF or MSF divided by 1000,
rounded to 2 decimals.
~ Tarping Charge: Tarping Rate per load.
~ Sub-Total: The sum of Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Bar Coding +
Tarping.
~ Gross Total: The sum of the Sub-Total + Taxes, rounded to 2 decimals.
~ Discount: Less (the Cost of Goods less - Total Freight) times (the Discount
Rate divided
by 100), rounded to 2 decimals.
~ Net Total: The Gross Total minus the Discount.
~ The following information will be input by the Accountant, and added to the
subtotal to
calculate the Gross Total:
~ Tax I Name and percentage rate
~ Tax 2 Name and percentage rate
~ Tax 3 Name and percentage rate
Once all the Invoice information is correct, the Seller Account submits the
Invoice to The Wood Products SystemT"' by clicking on the Submit nvoice button
at
the bottom of the Invoice page. The Wood Products SystemTM will then take this
Invoice information and create the Buyer's Invoice.
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ON-LINE FREIGHT BOOK
The Online Freight Book allows Members to update Master Freight Book
information via The Wood Products System.
Before using the Online Freight Book, a Member must be assigned the
Freight Book Editor role by The Wood Products System, or Member Administrator.
UPDATING FREIGHT RATES
Under the operations tab, click on Edit Freight Book in the Lower Navigation
Bar. This leads to the Edit Freight Book page shown in Figure 8A.
In the Account field, select one of the Selling Accounts. The default is Hubs
in sener~s Freight Book Only, which is the checkbox in the Hubs field.
Select the appropriate Major and Minor Hubs, and a Rate Table will appear
in the right frame as shown in Figure 8B.
The table at the top of the page displays the following information:
~ Account-Seller's Account name
I S ~ Major Hub
~ Minor Hub
The table at the bottom of the page displays the following information:
~ Truck/Rail
~ Transport Mode
~ Rail Carrier
~ Price per Load
To change the Freight Rates, click inside the Price/Load column, and type in
the updated Rates. The row in which data is being entered will be highlighted
to
reduce the likelihood of entry errors, as shown in Figure 8C.
To view more Rail Carriers, select a Rail Carrier in the selection list at the
bottom of the page, and then click on Add Rail carrier. The new Rail Carrier
will be
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added to the existing Freight Table list. If the selected Rail Carrier is
currently on
the list, a message box will appear, as shown in Figure 8D.
Click the Reset button to erase the new entries, and replace them with the
original Freight Book values.
Click the save button to update the new information into the Freight Book.
SEARCHING FOR A MINOR HUB
To search for a Minor Hub, type in at least 3 characters of the requested Hub
name in the Hub Search text area shown in Figure 8E.
Upon clicking the Search button, a list of all Minor Hubs in the Wood
Products System Master Freight Book database will be displayed in the right
frame,
along with their associated Major Hub name as shown in Figure 8F.
Clicking on a Minor Hub name will display the associated Rate Table in the
right frame, where updates may be made, as shown in Figure 8G.
REQUESTING AN OFFLINE UPDATE
To send a request to The Wood Products System for an update of the Offline
Freight Book, click the Request offiine update button in the left frame.
A message page will then appear with the following information as shown in
Figure 8H.
~ Message Header
~ Message Type
~ Distribution Method
~ Subject
~ Message
~ Request
~ Account ID
~ Account Name
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Click on the send button to deliver the message to The Wood Products
System.
UPLOADING FREIGHT BOOK DATA
Under the operations tab, click on Upload Freight Book on the Lower
S Navigation Bar. The Upload Freight Book page shown in Figure 8I will appear.
On this page, a User can upload text files that have been exported from their
Offline Freight Book for use with the Online Freight Book.
In the text input area, enter the drive path and name for the expanded file
from the Offline Freight Book or click the Browse button to find and select
the file
from the appropriate directory on the computer.
To upload the file containing the Freight Rates, click the upload button.
OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK
STARTING THE OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK
The Off line Freight Book Application may be used without logging on to
The Wood Products System.
From the Start menu, select Programs and then select The Wood Products
System Freight Book. From here, select Freight Book Off line, and the
application
Splash Screen will appear, as shown in Figure 8J
The Log On page will then appear, as shown in Figure 8K.
Input the User name and password assigned by The Wood Products System,
and the Off line Freight Book page is displayed.
USING THE OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK APPLICATION
There are two sections of the Off line Freight Book page as shown in Figure
8L.
~ The Select side is on the left
~ The Edit side is on the right
The following information is provided on the Select side:
~ Account
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~ Address-once an Account is selected, the appropriate shipping address is
displayed
~ Select Hub
~ Major Hub-all Major Hubs available in the Wood Products System Master
Freight
Book Database are available in this list. They are organized alphabetically by
S state/province, then by city.
~ Minor Hubs-when a Major Hub is selected, the associated Minor Hubs are
displayed.
When the appropriate selections are made, click on the edit» button to switch
to the Edit side of the page.
Note: The Edit» button becomes active only after an Account is selected, and
the «update button becomes active when on the Edit side of the page.
The following information is provided on the Edit side as shown in Figure
8M.
~ Hub Details the selected Major and Minor Hub is displayed in this area
~ Trucks-the truck table is separated into three columns:
~ Transport Type (Truck)
~ Transport Mode-B Train, Super B, Closed Van, Pig Van, and T/L (Truckload)
~ Rate-Freight Rates must be input for each Truck Type in this column. At the
top
of the column, a US$ or CDN$ will appear depending on the Selling Account and
its
Shipping Address, and the Minor Hub location. The Currency rules are:
~ A US Mill delivering to a US Buyer will input Freight Rates in US$
~ A US Mill delivering to a Canadian Buyer will input Freight Rates in US$ to
Canadian locations
~ A Canadian Mill delivering to a US Buyer will input Freight Rates in US$ To
US locations
~ A Canadian Mill delivering to a Canadian Buyer will input Freight Rates in
CDN$
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~ Rail Carriers-to add Rail Freight Rates, click the Add button next to the
Rail Carriers
table. A window will appear, as shown in figure 8N, where Freight Rates can be
entered. A Rail Carrier must be chosen from the drop-down list at the top of
the
window.
The Rail Carrier table is separated into three columns:
~ Transport Type (Rail)
~ Transport Mode- SD Box, DD Box, 50' Box, 52' Box, 60' Box, SO' BH, 52' BH,
52'
A-Frame, 55' A-Frame, 53' NBH, 55' BH, 5T BH, 60' NBH, 60' Centrebeam, 60'
BH, 60' A-frame, 66' BH, 71' A-frame, and 73' A-frame
~ Rate-separate Freight Rates must be input for each Rail Carrier, and each
Rail Car
Type. A US5 or CDNS will appear at the top of this column depending on which
currency is being used. Once the Rates are entered, click the Add button to
save the
Rail Freight Rates.
The Rail Carrier will appear under Rail Carrier Name on the Off line Freight
Book page with Add, Edit, and Delete buttons next to it, as shown in Figure
80.
To save the new Freight Rates in the Off line Freight Book click the «update
button. The Minor Hub will now have a * in the Rate column next to its name.
SEARCHING FOR HUBS
A Seller may search for a Minor Hub using the Search option of the Off line
Freight Book application.
Select the appropriate Account, and click on the Search button beside Select
Hub on the Select side of the page.
The Hub search window will be displayed. Input at least 3 characters of the
Minor Hub name, and a listing of all appropriate Minor Hubs will be provided
with
their associated Major Hubs as shown in Figure 8P.
By selecting a Minor Hub and clicking OK, the Minor Hub's rate table will
be displayed. Freight Rates can now be input to this Minor Hub location, as
shown
in Figure 8Q.
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OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK REPORT
A Seller can generate a Report of all existing Freight Rates for all of their
Selling Accounts, by selecting the Report button at the bottom of the Off line
Freight
Book page. The Freight Book Report will then appear in a separate window,
shown
S in figure 8R. ,
Today's date appears at the top of the Report.
The information appears in a table organized by Account, then by Major Hub.
For each Major Hub, the following information is provided:
~ Minor Hub
~ State/Province
~ Transport Mode (Truck and Rail Type)
~ Rail Carrier
~ Price (US)
~ Price CDN
On the last page of the Report, there is a Reconciliation of total US and CDN
Freight Rates, when they were last modified, who prepared and approved the
Freight
Rates, and the associated dates, as shown in Figure 8S.
At the bottom of the window are the following icons:
~ Go to the beginning of the Report
~ Go back one page
~ The current page of the total number of pages in the Report
~ Go forward one page
~ Go forward to the end of the Report
~ Cancel
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~ Enlarge or minimize the Report on the screen
~ Print the Report
~ Export the Report (save it in a specific format, to a specific file)
~ Export the Report (send it in a specific format to a specific e-mail
address)
~ Close the Report
EXPORTING AN OFF-LINE FREIGHT BOOK
Click on the Export button at the bottom of the Off line Freight Book page,
and a Save As box will appear.
Enter a name for the file in the following format-Company Name-Account
Name-Date (yyyy-mm-dd}-then click the save button. The file is now ready to be
uploaded to The Wood Products SystemTM.
SELLER LOG OFF
To log off of The Wood Products System, a Seller user should click on the
Log Off option on the Bottom Navigation Bar. Before being able to log off of
The
Wood Products System, a Seller will be transferred to the Exit The Wood
Products
System page, as shown in Figure 8T.
For example, Seller's are informed how many active Offers they have on The
Wood Products System, and are informed that these Offers will be placed on
hold
until they Log On the next day. Also, if a Selling Trader is automatically
logged off
due to inactivity for 30 minutes, all active Offers are placed on hold.
Offers have a life span of 7 business days, after which time they are
automatically deleted from The Wood Products System.
Seller Log Off Actions
VIEW CHANGE REQUESTS
Selling Traders are also informed if they have any Change Requests. They are
provided with a view change Requests button, which will take them to the
Change
Requests area of the Web site. Once the Change Requests have been viewed, the
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Seller would select the Log off button in the Bottom Navigation Bar again, and
proceed with the Exit The Wood Products System procedure.
CANCEL OFFERS
Sellers may also choose to delete any active Offers by selecting the cancer
offers button.
LOG OFF
If a Seller does not wish to view any outstanding Change Requests or Cancel
Offers, s/he may select the Log Off button and exit The Wood Products System.
HELP FOR SELLERS
Help is available to Sellers from the field names on the Make Lumber Offer,
and the Make Panel Offer forms.
MAKE A LUMBER OFFER POP-UP HELP
BAR CODING AVAILABLE
Sellers may choose to offer Bar Coding on lumber shipments by selecting
either "Yes" or "No" at the Bar Coding Available radio buttons.
Only when a Seller has offered to Bar Code a shipment of Lumber, may
Buyers choose whether they want the shipment bar coded or not. The amount a
Mill
charges for bar coding (per MBF) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Bid
page.
The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Bar Coding charge. If
your Bar Coding rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator.
This is a mandatory field.
BOARD FOOTAGE
Enter the board foot quantity of lumber to be sold in this Offer. This is an
estimate only. The actual Board Footage will be as per shipment.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 6. Do not enter any
punctuation in this field, such as commas.
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COMMENTS
In the Comments text area, enter anything special or important about this
Offer that Buying Traders should know, e.g., "Unable to change ship date." If
there is
nothing special about the Offer, no comments are necessary.
You may input up to a maximum of 100 characters, including punctuation
and spaces.
This is not a mandatory field.
FOB MILL PRICE
Enter the FOB Mill Price, then select either the US$ or CDN$ radio button.
Selecting the US$ radio button offers this lumber in American funds to both
American and Canadian Buyers, dependent on the appropriate US$ Freight Rates
to
those destinations.
Selecting the CDN$ radio button offers this lumber in Canadian funds to the
Canadian Market only.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum # of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter any punctuation in
this field, such as commas or dollar signs.
GRADE
Select the Grade of the lumber in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list
items on
page 62).
GRADE STAMPED
If the Offer is grade stamped, select GS. If the Offer is not grade stamped,
select NGS.
This is a mandatory field.
LENGTH
Select the Length, in feet and/or inches or "R/L" for Random Lengths, for the
lumber in this Offer.
If you select "R/L", you must input the Tally.
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If you select "R/L", the "Length/inches" and "Trim" fields are disabled.
This is a mandatory field.
MOISTURE
Select the Moisture content for the lumber in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field. ,
Short forms are used for some of the Moisture list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Moisture list items. (See
Moisture list items on page 61 ).
NAME AND SAVE AS TEMPLATE
Sellers may choose to save an Offer form as a Template to use over again. If,
for example, you consistently sell 2x4, R/L, SYP, #3 lumber, you can create
this
Offer, save it as a Template, then retrieve this Offer repeatedly and re-
submit it as a
new Offer.
There are certain fields that are not saved in a Template. These are: Seller
Account Name, Board Footage, Ship Date Week Of, and FOB Mill Price. You will
need to enter these 4 items each time you call up a Template before submitting
the
Offer.
It is suggested that you name your Templates in a way that you can instantly
recognize them. There is a maximum of 20 characters, including spaces, you may
use
to name any Template.
You may not use the following characters in a Template name:
single quotes '
double quotes
commas ,
semi-colons ;
colons
periods
# OF LOADS
Number of Loads allows a Trader to submit a Multiple Load Offer. The # of
loads represents the number of truckloads or carloads of lumber being offered.
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If you offer 10 loads, for example, you may accept Bids from multiple
Buyers, up to the maximum but not exceeding the ten loads offered.
Tip: If a Buyer accepts 10 loads, he may submit a Change Request to have the
separate loads delivered to different Buying Locations. This is dependent on
the
Seller's approval, however.
This is a mandatory field.
PROFILE
Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured lumber for this Offer.
This is not a mandatory field.
If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not listed here,
please contact The Wood Products SystemTM.
Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list
items on
page 65).
SELECT A TEMPLATE
This list displays the names of Offer Templates you have previously created
and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then
releasing it.
If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once
one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the
Template
list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the
Template will
display on the form.
SELLER ACCOUNTS
Choose the Selling location the current Offer is to be shipped from.
This is a mandatory field.
If your Company has a shipping location that you require, but that does not
appear in this list, contact the The Wood Products SystemTM Administrator to
request
a new Account be created for this Location.
SHIP DATE WEEK OF
Select the week you are willing to ship your lumber.
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The Ship Dates list 1 S forward Monday dates for the current year. The list
items appear in this format: Year-month-day.
This is a mandatory field.
SPECIES
Select the Species of lumber in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See
Species
list items on page 59).
SUPPLEMENTAL
If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the lumber in this
Offer.
This is not a mandatory field.
if you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not included in this
list, please contact The Wood Products SystemTM.
Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items.
(See
Supplemental list items on page 65).
SURFACE
Select the type of Surface finish available in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Surface list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Surface list items. (See
Surface
list items on page 61 ).
TALLY
Enter the appropriate Tally by length for sale in this Offer in the following
format: 10/10 10/12 10/14, etc. Commas are allowed in this input field.
The Tally field can only be filled in if the lumber Offer is Random Lengths.
This means that you have selected "R/L" in the "Length/feet" field.
If "R/L" is selected in the "Length/feet" field, "Tally" is a mandatory field.
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Note: Buyers may counter the Offer with their own specific Tally
requirements, which may or may not be approved by the Seller.
TARPING AVAILABLE
Sellers may choose to offer Tarping on lumber shipments by selecting "yes"
or "no" at the Tarping Available radio button inputs.
Only when a Seller has offered to Tarp a shipment of lumber, may Buyers
choose whether they want the shipment Tarped or not. The amount a Mill charges
for
tarping (per load) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Lumber Bid page.
The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Tarping charge. If your
Tarping rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator.
This is a mandatory field.
THICKNESS
Select the Thickness, in inches, of the lumber in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
TRANSPORT
Select the method of transportation to be used to deliver the lumber in this
Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
The method of transportation determines which Freight Book rates are used
to calculate the freight charges for delivering the lumber to a Buyer's
location.
If a particular transportation mode specific to your Mill is not included
here,
TM
please contact The Wood Products System .
TRIM
Select the appropriate Trim you are willing to allow for this lumber Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
Buyers who search for a specific PET Trim length will be shown all PET
TBA Offers as well.
UNIT SIZE
Enter the # of pieces per bundle for this Offer of lumber.
This is a mandatory field.
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The maximum # of characters allowed is 3. Do not enter any punctuation in
this field, such as commas.
WIDTH
Select the Width, in inches, of the lumber in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
WRAPPED
Select the appropriate packaging for this Offer of lumber.
This is a mandatory field.
MAKE A PANEL OFFER POP-UP HELP
BAR CODING AVAILABLE
Sellers may choose to offer Bar Coding on panel shipments by selecting
either "Yes" or "No" at the Bar Coding Available radio buttons.
Only when a Seller has offered to Bar Code a shipment of Panel, may Buyers
15 choose whether they want the shipment bar coded or not. The amount a Mill
charges
for bar coding (per MSF) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Bid page.
The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Bar Coding charge. If
your Bar Coding rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator.
This is a mandatory field.
COMMENTS
In the Comments text area, enter anything special or important about this
Offer that Buying Traders should know, e.g., "Unable to change ship date." If
there is
nothing special about the Offer, no comments are necessary.
You may input up to a maximum of I00 characters, including punctuation
and spaces.
This is not a mandatory field.
FOB MILL PRICE
Enter the FOB Mill Price, then select either the US$ or CDN$ radio button.
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Selecting the US$ radio button offers this panel in American funds to both
American and Canadian Buyers, dependent on the appropriate US$ Freight Rates
to
those destinations.
Selecting the CDN$ radio button offers this panel in Canadian funds to the
S Canadian Market only.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum # of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter any punctuation in
this field, such as commas or dollar signs.
GRADE
10 Select the Grade of the panel in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list
items on
page 74).
15 NAME AND SAVE A TEMPLATE
Sellers may choose to save an Offer form as a Template to use over again. If,
for example, you consistently sell 1 /2", 4x 12, Pine panel, you can create
this Offer,
save it as a Template, then retrieve this Offer repeatedly and re-submit it as
a new
Offer.
20 There are certain fields that are not saved in a Template. These are:
Seller
Account Name, Square Footage, Ship Date Week Of, and FOB Mill Price. You will
need to enter these 4 items each time you call up a Template before submitting
the
Offer.
It is suggested that you name your Templates in a way that you can instantly
25 recognize them. There is a maximum of 20 characters, including spaces, you
may use
to name any Template.
You may not use the following characters in a Template name:
single quotes
double quotes "
30 commas ,
semi-colons ;
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colons
periods
# OF LDADS
Number of Loads allows a Trader to submit a Multiple Load Offer. The # of
loads represents the number of truckloads or carloads of,panel being offered.
If you offer 10 loads, for example, you may accept Bids from multiple
Buyers, up to the maximum but not exceeding the ten loads offered.
rip: If a Buyer accepts 10 loads, he may submit a Change Request to have the
separate loads delivered to different Buying Locations. This is dependent on
the
Seller's approval, however.
This is a mandatory field.
PROFILE
Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured panel for this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not listed here,
please contact The Wood Products SystemTM.
Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list
items on
page 75).
SELECT A TEMPLATE
This list displays the names of Offer Templates you have previously created
and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then
releasing it.
If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once
one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the
Template
list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the
Template will
display on the form.
SELLER ACCOUNTS
Choose the Selling location the current Offer is to be shipped from.
This is a mandatory field.
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If your Company has a shipping location that you require, but that does not
appear in this list, contact the The Wood Products SystemT~' Administrator to
request
a new Account be created for this location.
SHIP DATE WEEK OF
Select the week you are you willing to ship your~panel.
The Ship Dates list 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list
items appear in this format: Year-month-day.
This is a mandatory field.
SIZE
Select the length and width, in feet, of the panel in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
SPECIES
Select the Species of panel in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See
Species
list items on page 73).
SQUARE FOOTAGE
Enter the square foot quantity of panel to be sold in this Offer. This is an
estimate only. The actual Square Footage will be as per shipment.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum # of characters allowed is 6. Do not enter any punctuation in
this field, such as commas.
SUPPLEMENTAL
If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the panel in this
Offer.
This is not a mandatory field.
If you have Mill-specific manufactured products that are not included in this
list, please contact The Wood Products SystemTM.
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Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items.
(See
Supplemental list items on page 75).
TARPING AVAILABLE
Sellers may choose to offer Tarping on panel shipments by selecting "yes" or
"no" at the Tarping Available radio button inputs.
Only when a Seller has offered to Tarp a shipment of panel, may Buyers
choose whether they want the shipment Tarped or not. The amount a Mill charges
for
tarping (per load) will be displayed to Buyers at the Make a Panel Bid page.
The Seller's Membership Profile is the source of the Tarping charge. If your
Tarping rates need to be changed, contact your Member Administrator.
This is a mandatory field.
THICKNESS
Select the Thickness, in inches, of the panel in this Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
TRANSPORT
Select the method of transportation to be used to deliver the panel in this
Offer.
This is a mandatory field.
The method of transportation determines which Freight Book rates are used
to calculate the freight charges for delivering the panel to a Buyer's
location.
If a particular transportation mode specific to your Mill is not included
here,
please contact The Wood Products System.
UNIT SIZE
Enter the # of pieces per unit for this Offer of panel.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum # of characters allowed is 3. Do not enter any punctuation in
this field, such as commas.
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MONITOR OFFERS POP-UP HELP
OFFER #
Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an
Offer. The Offer number "099050009837" consists of the following:
"O" for Offer
"99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted.
"OS" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted.
"0009837" - A seven-digit identification number.
An Offer remains active while the trader is logged on to The Wood Products
SystemT"" and on hold when the trader is logged off. It stays in the system up
to 7
business days after creation unless cancelled or sold.
Click the Offer # to view the Offer details.
# OF BIDS
The total number of Bids are shown. The magnifying glass icon will appear
when there are any Bids on an Offer. Clicking the magnifying glass displays
the Bids
on the Offer.
ASKING PRICE
The Seller's FOB Mill Price as entered when the Offer was created.
TOP BID PRICE
The highest Bid expressed as FOB Mill. This field will have "$0" if no Bids
have been received on the Offer.
Note:
If Canadian prices exist, they will be ranked with the US Prices notionally,
and will have the acronym CDN appended to it. The Canadian price is converted
by
The Wood Products SystemTM to US dollars in order to find its place in the
ranking of
all Offer prices. However, the FOB Destination Price will appear as CDN $350,
for
example.
EXPIRY TIME
The time (CST) when the Bid will expire. This field is blank, if no Bids have
been received.
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A Bid expires automatically after 30 minutes if a Seller does not accept it,
or
if The Wood Products System or the Seller cancels it. The Wood Products System
clears all Bids at the end of a trading day.
OFFER DETAILS (LUMBER)
5 Offer Details include the following information (listed in the order they
appear):
~ Species
~ Thickness x Width
~ Length [Random Length (R/L) or Feet and Inches]
I 0 ~ Trim or Tally - 1f you have selected R/L, the tally appears; if you
selected a length
other than R/L, the trim appears
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
15 ~ Grade Stamped (GS for Grade Stamped, NGS for Not Grade Stamped)
~ Wrapping (P/W for Paper Wrapped, PUTT for Poly Under Top Tier, or Open)
~ Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ Profile (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ # of loads
20 ~ Transport Mode
~ Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)
~ Tarped (T for Tarping Available or NT for Tarping Not Available)
~ Ship Date Week Of - Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday of the
selected
week.
25 ~ Board Footage
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~ Unit Size
OFFER DETAILS (PANEL)
Offer Details include the following information (listed in the order they
appear):
5 ~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Size
~ Grade
~ Profile
10 ~ Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ # of loads
~ Transport Mode
~ Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)
~ Tarped (T for Tarping Available or NT for Tarping Not Available)
15 ~ Ship Date Week Of- Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday ofthe
selected
week
~ Square Footage
~ Unit Size
COMMENTS
20 If a comment is included with the Offer, a cloud icon will appear in this
column. Clicking on the icon will display the comment in a message box.
CANCEL OFFER
A red x icon is provided to the right of each Offer. Click the x icon beside
the
Offer you wish to cancel. This causes a Cancel Offer Confirmation message box
to
25 appear.
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Select the OK button on the Cancel Offer Confirmation message box to
confirm cancellation of the Offer. The selected Offer is cleared from the
table, and all
Bids made against the cancelled Offer are rejected.
Select the Cancel button on the Cancel Offer Confirmation message box to
return to the Monitor Offers page without canceling the Offer.
CHANGE REQUESTS POP-UP HELP
SC #
Sales Contract Numbers are generated by the system when a Selling Trader
accepts a Bid on an Offer. The Sales Contract number "099010002837" consists
of
the following:
~ "C" for Sales Contract
~ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Sales Contract is created
~ "O1" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Sales Contract is created.
~ "0002837" - A seven-digit identification number.
In the case of a Multiple Load Offer, however, an alpha character is appended
to the Sales Contract number. For example, an Offer of 5 loads would generate
Sales
Contracts C99010002837A, C99010002837B, 0990100028370, C99010002837D,
and C99010002837E.
20 Amended Sales Contracts are created when a Seller agrees to ship an order
to
an alternate destination. The Sales Contract Number is changed by appending a
dash
and numeral to the end of the Sales Contract Number. The Amended Sales
Contract
Number would be C990I0002837-1, for example. Each time a Sales Contract is
changed, the amended number is incremented by one. If a Sales Contract is
changed
5 times, the final SC# would be 099010002837-5.
In the case of a change being made to one shipment of a Multiple Load Offer,
the dash and numeral would be appended to the Sales Contract Number as
follows:
C99010002837A-1.
Click the SC# to view the SC.
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OFFER #
Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an
Offer. The Offer number "099050009837" consists of the following:
~ "O" for Offer
~ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted.
~ "OS" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted.
~ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number.
An Offer remains active while the trader is logged on to The Wood Products
System and on hold when the trader is logged off. It stays in the system up to
7
I 0 business days after creation unless cancelled or sold.
Click the Offer # to view the Offer details.
BID #
Bid #'s are generated by the system when a Buying Trader submits a Bid on
an Offer. The Bid number "899050009837" consists of the following:
~ "B" for Bid
~ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted
~ "OS" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted
~ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number
Click the Bid # to view the Bid details.
SELLER NAME
The account name of the Seller who created the Offer.
CHANGE FROM
The original buying account/location of shipment.
PRICE
The original price of the shipment. This includes shipping and handling costs
to the original location.
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CHANGE TO
The requested buying account/location of shipment.
NEIN PRICE
The revised price of the shipment. This includes shipping and handling costs
to the new location.
ACCEPT
Buyers may request that a Seller change the destination of an order. The
Seller is required to view each Change Request and has the choice to accept or
reject
it.
It is suggested that you click on the SC# to view the Sales Contract before
accepting or rejecting it. The Buyer may have included a Comment with the
Change
Request, and it can only be viewed at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual
Sales
Contract pages.
If you wish to send a Comment to the Buyer with your response, you may do
1 S so at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual Sales Contract pages.
To accept a Change Request without viewing the actual Sales Contract,
simply click in the check box under the Accept column heading.
When you click Submit, an Amended Sales Contract will be sent to the
Buyer.
Note:
~ An Invoice for goods may be created even if the Buyer has not viewed the
Seller's
response to a Change Request.
~ A Seller Accountant may create an Invoice even if there is an unviewed
Change
Request on a Sales Contract. If the Invoice is created, the Change Request
will be
rejected, and the Invoice will be created from the original Sales Contract
details.
REJECT
Buyers may request that a Seller change the destination of an order. The
Seller is required to view each Change Request and has the choice to accept or
reject
it.
30 It is suggested that you click on the SC# to view the Sales Contract before
accepting or rejecting it. The Buyer may have included a Comment with the
Change
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Request, and it can only be viewed at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual
Sales
Contract pages.
If you wish to send a Comment to the Buyer with your response, you may do
so at the Group Sales Contracts or Individual Sales Contract pages.
S To accept a Change Request without viewing the actual Sales Contract,
simply click in the check box under the Accept column heading.
When you click Submit, an Amended Sales Contract will be sent to the
Buyer.
Note:
10 ~ An Invoice for goods may be created even if the Buyer has not viewed the
Seller's
response to a Change Request.
~ A Seller Accountant may create an Invoice even if there is an unviewed
Change
Request on a Sales Contract. If the Invoice is created, the Change Request
will be
rejected, and the Invoice will be created from the original Sales Contract
details.
15 BUY
The Buying Trader begins the Buying process by searching for Offers.
SEARCH FOR LUMBER OFFERS
Buyers will search for Offers of lumber or panels on The Wood Products
System. From a search results page, they will be able to view details of any
Offer by
20 clicking on the Offer #. From the Buyers Lumber Details or Panel Details
pages, a
Buyer will be able to submit a Bid on an Offer.
In order for a Bid to be accepted on an Offer, The Wood Products System
must approve and reserve the Buyer's credit line before the Bid is sent to a
Seller.
The Seller must also have a Freight Rate to the Buyer's Minor Hub.
25 The Search for Lumber Offers page shown in Figure 9A allows Buyers to
input search criteria to try and match with The Wood Products System lumber
Offers. Selection areas are similar to the Seller's Offer page, minus a few of
the
Seller's Offer criteria.
Note: Buyers can also search by one, multiple or all Sellers, by selecting the
30 Search By Sellers Only option.
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Mandatory Fields
There are certain fields that are mandatory on the Lumber Search form, and
5 for which the Buying Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields
on the
Lumber Search form are highlighted on the page with an asterisk beside the
field
name. They are:
~ Buyer Accounts
~ Seller Name
10 ~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Width
~ Length
~ Trim (if other than R/L has been selected at Length/Feet)
15 ~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
The Offer #, Comments, Profile, Search By Sellers and Supplemental inputs
are not required to complete a valid search form.
20 If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the submit this
search
button, The Wood Products System will let you know, for example, as shown in
Figure 9B.
Clicking oK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that
requires the selection or input.
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Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the form. Simply click on a field
name, such as "Seller Accounts" to display Pop-Up Help. See Heap for Buyers on
page
178.
S LUMBER SEARCH TEMPLATES
Buying Traders have the ability to save the details of a search as a template
for retrieval and submission at another time.
Create and Name a Lumber Search Template
To create and name a Lumber Search Template, select a value for all the
fields you want to describe in your search.
At the bottom of the screen is the Temp~ates management area, as shown in
Figure 6P.
Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must
name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest
you
15 name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For
example, a typical
lumber search consists of the following information: 2x6, 10', Mill Cut, SPF,
#2&BTR, S4S, KD 19, Studs. This is too much information to include in a
template
name. Therefore, it will be up to each individual Buying Trader to choose what
criteria are the most important to help him/her quickly recognize exactly what
THIS
template is. Perhaps an appropriate name would be: 2x6x10-MC-SPF-2&BTR.
TEMPLATE NAME TIPS
There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.
Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks -- colons,
semi-colons, commas, and periods -- are not allowed.
c cc ,
~ ~ ~
25 If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the
save button, you will receive an error message.
Upon clicking oK, The Wood Products System will take you back to the
Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the
character, and
you will be able to save the template.
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You will notice that you will not be able to use 10'6" in the naming of a
template. We offer two suggestions: 1of/s, or ~o-s.
Save A Search Template
Once you have input the Template Name, click on save. The newly saved
S template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box.
Select and Load a Search Template
Click on the arrow to the right of the se~ect templates selection list. This
action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to
scroll
down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release
your
10 mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template
name to take
you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll
up or
down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list,
you
can see the details of each template appear in the Search form. When you
locate the
template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key.
15 Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:
Submit it as a search for Offers.
2. Change the search in some way and save as a new template.
s. Delete it.
Select and Delete A Search Template
20 Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located
the template you want to delete, simply click the De~ete key and it will
remove the
saved template from your selection list.
LUMBER SEARCH INPUTS AND SELECTIONS
Lumber Search Selection Lists
25 The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Lumber Search
form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their
drop-down
boxes.
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BUYER LUMBER ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST
The Buyer Accounts Selection List Input will include all Accounts a Buying
Trader has permission to buy for, as assigned by the The Wood Products System
Administrator.
The default list item for a Buyer's Accounts list is the last Account for
which
the Buyer carried out a transaction.
SELLER NAME SELECTION LIST
Seller Name Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied
question, "Is there a particular Mill or Mills whose lumber Offers you would
like to
see?"
Buyers may select All Sellers to search on, or selected ones. To select more
than one Seller Name, click on one name, hold down the CTRL key, and continue
to
click on as many Seller Names as you like. When you have selected them aIl,
release
the CTRL key.
15 To view all offers currently posted by one or more Sellers or All Sellers,
click
the Search By Seller only option and select the desired Seller or "All
Sellers" option
from the Seller Name field. You may select multiple Sellers by holding down
the
CTRL key and clicking on the desired Sellers.
The default list item for Seller Names will be the All item.
20 Information on the Seller is available at the Members Directory, and also
at
the Search Results page.
SPECIES SELECTION LIST
Short forms will be used for the items in the Lumber Species selection list.
They include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
SYP Southern Yellow
Pine
SPF Spruce-Pine-Fir
Hem-Fir Hem-Fir
D Fir Douglas Fir
D Fir-Larch Douglas Fir-Larch
WR Cedar Western Red Cedar
In. Red Cedar Inland Red Cedar
Sitka Sitka Spruce
L Pine Lodgepole Pine
P Pine Ponderosa Pine
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Id. W. Pine Idaho White Pine
E W Pine Eastern White Pine
Sugar Pine Sugar Pine
Redwood Redwood
Cal. Red Fir California Red Fir
Hem-Tam Eastern Hemlock-Tamarack
Abbreviated Name Full Name
E. Hem Eastern Hemlock
WW Pine Western White Pine
Radiata Pine Radiata Pine
Jack Pine Jack Pine
Red Pine Red Pine
Tamarack Tamarack
EW Cedar Eastern White Cedar
Incense Cedar Incense Cedar
Yellow Cedar Yellow Cedar
Aspen Aspen
Poplar Poplar
Yellow Poplar Yellow Poplar
White Birch White Birch
B Cottonwood Black Cottonwood
Alder Red Alder
The default list item for Lumber Species is a blank item.
The full names for Lumber Species and their short forms will be available to
Buyers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
THICKNESS SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes 1 /2, 4/4, S/4, 6/4,
7/4, 8/4, 10/4, 12/4, 1, 2, 3, 4, S, 6, 8, 10, and 12.
The default list item for Thickness is a blank item.
WIDTH SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Width Selection List items, in inches, include:
2, 3, 4, S, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12.
The default list item for Width is a blank item.
LENGTH SELECTION LISTS
15 Lumber Length Selection List consists of two drop-down boxes. The first
drop-down box lists R/L as the first item, and then the # of "feet" in length,
from 1' to
48' in increments of 1'.
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The default list item for Length/Feet is a blank item.
The second drop-down box lists the # of "inches" in length, from 0" to 11" in
increments of 1 ". The inches length items will include the quotation mark
(denoting
inches) after the number, as in 6".
The default for the Length/Inches drop-down box is 0".
TRIM SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Trim Selection List items include:
PET TBA, DET, Mill Cut, and the standard PET trim lengths: PET 120",
PET 116-5/8", PET 116", PET 108", PET 105", PET 104-5/8", PET 104-1/2", PET
96", PET 94-1 /4", PET 94-1 /8", PET 93-1 /4", PET 93 ", PET 92-5/8", PET 92-1
/2",
PET 92-1/4", PET 91-1/4", PET 9I", PET 88-1/2", PET 88", PET 87-3/4", PET 87",
PET 86-5/8", PET 86-1/2", PET 84", PET 82", PET 81-3/4", PET 74", PET 72",
PET 60", PET 48", and PET 36".
The default list item for Trim is a blank item.
If a Buyer selects a specific Trim length, such as PET 82", the search results
will deliver all Offers with PET 82" as the Trim criteria, and all Offers with
PET
TBA as the Trim criteria. All other search criteria must match the Offer.
The Trim selection list will be deactivated if a Buyer selects R/L in the
Length/Feet selection list.
SURFACE SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Surface Selection List items include:
S4S, S 1 S2E, S2S, S3 S, RGH, S 1 S, S 1 E, S2E, S 1 S 1 E, S2S 1 E, RGH HDD,
and RED.
The default Iist item for Surface is a blank item.
MOISTURE SELECTION LIST
Lumber Moisture Selection List includes Green, KD 19, KD 15, Kiln Wets,
Ind. KD, and KD AT.
The default for the Moisture drop-down box is a blank item.
GRADES SELECTION LIST
Short forms will be used for the items in the Lumber Grades selection list.
They include:
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
# 1 & BTR # 1 & BTR
#1 #1
#2 #2
#2 & BTR #2 & BTR
STD & BTR STD & BTR
Const. STD Construction Standard
Stud Stud
Select Select
Select Struc. Select Structural
Utl. Utility
Utl. & BTR Utility & BTR
#3 #3
#3 & BTR #3 & BTR
PMO PMO
Econ. Economy
#4 #4
#4 & BTR #4 & BTR
1650f MSR 1650f Machine Stress
Rated
1800f MSR 1800f Machine Stress
Rated
2100f MSR 2100f Machine Stress
Rated
2250f MSR 2250f Machine Stress
Rated
2400f MSR 2400f Machine Stress
Rated
2700f MSR 2700f Machine Stress
Rated
C&BTR C&BTR
D D
D&BTR D&BTR
Choice & BTR Choice & BTR
Const. Construction
STD Standard
Sterling Sterling
Quality Quality
Ind. Industrial
Mldg. Moulding
Rgh. Mldg. & BTR Rough Moulding & BTR
Premium Premium
# 1 Shop # 1 Shop
#2 Shop #2 Shop
#3 Shop #3 Shop
1 Common 1 Common
2 Common 2 Common
3 Common 3 Common
4 Common 4 Common
5 Common 5 Common
A A
A Grade A Grade
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
Appearance Appearance
B & BTR Ind. B & Better Industrial
B Grade B Grade
B Lam. B Laminating
C Ind. C Industrial
C Select C Select
Choice Choice
Clear Clear
Clr. Hrt. Struc. Clear Heart Structural
Clr. Struc. Clear Structural
Clr. V G Hrt. Clear V G Heart
Const. Common Construction Common
Const. Heart Construction Heart
Cutting Cutting
C & BTR Dim. C & BTR Dimension
D Ind. D Industrial
D Ind. Clear D Industrial Clear
D Lam. D Laminating
D Select D Select
Dense Dense
Dse. Sel. Struc. Dense Select Structural
Dunnage Dunnage
Exp. Joint Expansion Joint
Factory Factory
Fact. Primed Factory Primed
Fact. Sel. Factory Select
Fact. Sel. (#3 Factory Select (#3
Clr.) Clear)
Finish Finish
Finish B & B Finish B & BTR
Finish C Finish C
Finish C & BTR Finish C & BTR
Finish D Finish D
# 1 Foundation # 1 Foundation
Ind. Fact. Sel. Industrial Factory
Select
Knotty Knotty
LI L1
L 1-C (Lam. ) L 1-C Laminating
L 1-Dense Lam. L 1-Dense Laminating
L2 L2
L2-D L2-D
L2-D Dense Lam. L2-D Dense Laminating
L2-Lam. L2-Laminating
L3-Lam. L3-Laminating
M-6 MEL M-6 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
M-10 MEL M-10 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
M-19 MEL M-19 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
M-23 MEL M-23 Machine Evaluated
Lumber
Merch. Merchantable
Merch. Hrt. Merchantable Heart
# 1 Struc. # 1 Structural
Patio 1 Patio 1
Patio 2 Patio 2
Pitch Selects Pitch Selects
Prime Prime
Prime #2 Prime #2
Pr. Finish Prime Finish
Qual. Knty. Quality Knotty
Scaffold # 1 Scaffold # 1
Scaffold #2 Scaffold #2
Select Knotty Select Knotty
Select Shop Select Shop
Selected Selected
Sel. 2 Common Selected 2 Common
Sel. 3 Common Selected 3 Common
Shop Shop
Stained Sel. Stained Selects
The default list item for Grades is a blank item.
The full names for Lumber Grades and their abbreviated names will be
available to Buyers in the On-Line Help area of the Web site.
S SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Supplemental Selection List items include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
PT CCA.25 Pressure Treated
CCA.25
PT CCA.40 Pressure Treated
CCA.40
PT CCA.60 Pressure Treated
CCA.60
PT CCA.80 Pressure Treated
CCA.80
FGR .TNT Finger Joint
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Pre-Drilled Pre-Drilled
The default list item for Supplemental is a blank item.
PROFILE SELECTION LIST
Abbreviated names will be used for the items in the Lumber Profile selection
list. They include T&G (for Tongue & Groove), Shiplap, Flooring, Stepping, and
Bevel Siding.
The full names for Lumber Profiles and their short forms will be available to
Buyers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
Lumber Search Input Text Areas
The following Text Inputs appear on the Lumber Search Form.
OFFER # INPUT
The Offer # Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied
question, "Do you wish to view the details of a specific Lumber Offer (perhaps
noticed on a previous search results screen)?"
Lumber Search Action Objects
SUBMIT THIS SEARCH
submit Tt,is search button prompts The Wood Products System to send the
search information to The Wood Products System, match it with The Wood
Products
System Lumber Offer listings, and return them to the Buyer in a Search Results
Table.
CLEAR THIS SEARCH
To Clear the form of all its selections, choose one of the following:
~ Click on the Search Lumber Offers item in the Lower Navigation Bar under the
Buy tab.
~ Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.
LUMBER SEARCH RESULTS
The Lumber Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9D, allows Buying
Traders to see what Offers meet their search criteria.
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Above the Search Results Table, the Buyer Account Name against which the
Search was made is highlighted at the top.
The input criteria from their search form will be displayed in a summary line
at the top of their Search Results Table in the same order as it appears on
the Search
form:
Species, Thickness x Width, Length, Trim (if R/L selected at Length),
Surface, Moisture, Grade, Supplemental, Profile.
If a Search by Seller is chosen the results would be:
Search Criteria: All Deliverable Offers
The daily Currency Exchange Rate is displayed above the Table as well.
LUMBER SEARCH RESULTS TABLE
The Search Results Table displays Offers matching a Buyer's Search criteria.
Offers are ranked by FOB Destination Price in descending order.
The information provided on the Lumber Search Results Table shows the
Buyer all the criteria of the Offer that was not included on the Search form.
This
information is organized into the following columns:
~ FOB Destination Price: Offers must be sold in the currency they were made.
US FOB
Destination prices will be ranked with notional Canadian FOB Destination
prices. The
FOB Destination price a Buyer sees is the Seller's FOB Mill Price + Freight
per MBF +
(the Seller + Buyer Transaction Fee) on the Offer.
~ Seller Name: The name the Buyer sees is comprised of the Short Company Name,
appended to the Selling Account Name, which will be the location of the Mill.
By
selecting the Seller Name, a Profile page for the Seller will be accessed and
displayed.
~ # of Current Bids on the Offer: This lets the Buyer know how many other
Buyers are
interested in the Offer.
~ Description: Lumber description is displayed in the following order:
Species, Thickness,
Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped,
Wrapping,
Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarping, Ship Date
Week Of,
Board Footage, and Unit Size.
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~ Comments: Any comments associated with the Offer.
~ Offer #: By clicking on the Offer #, Traders will be able to view the
details of an Offer at
the Make a Lumber Bid page. This is also the page that the Buyer may submit a
Bid on
the Offer.
If there are no Offers matching your search criteria, you will receive a
message at the Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9C.
Action Objects
VIEW SELLER PROFILE
Selecting on the Seller Name will generate a Profile page for the Seller, as
shown in Figure 9E.
To return to the Search Results page, the Buyer would simply click in the
window's close box (x) in the upper right hand corner, or click on the close
button at
the bottom of the page.
VIEW LUMBER OFFER DETAILS
1 S By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the Make a
Lumber
Bid page, as shown in Figure 9F and described below.
MAKE A LUMBER BID
By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the
Make a Lumber Bid page, where the Buyer can view the Offer Details, change any
of
the items the Trader is allowed to change, then make a Bid on the specific
Offer.
The Make a Lumber Bid page provides a Buyer with all the details of a
specific Offer. Some areas of the Offer will be fixed, and some areas of the
Offer
can be changed before a Bid is submitted.
The layout of the Make a Lumber Bid page shown in Figure 9F mimics the
Seller's Lumber Offer page layout, shown in Figure 6N, for those items that
are the
same.
The items a Buying Trader may change before submitting a Bid on an Offer
are:
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~ Trim or Tally
~ Wrapped
~ # of Loads
~ Bar Coding (only if offered by Seller)
~ Tarping (only if offered by Seller)
~ Ship Date Week Of
The Buyer will also be able to submit any conditions or comments s/he may
have on the Offer along with a Bid Price, by inputting the information in the
Bid
Comments text box provided on the form.
The Buyer must select Payment Terms before submitting the Bid.
All inputs on the Make a Lumber Bid page are mandatory. If you forget to
select a mandatory field, upon clicking the submit Tnis Bid button, a message
box will
appear, for example as shown in Figure 9B.
Clicking oic at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that
requires the selection or input.
LUMBER BID INPUTS AND SELECTIONS
Lumber Bid Selection Lists
The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Make a Lumber
Bid form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in
their drop
down boxes.
The default selections for each Selection List will be the item chosen by the
Seller on the original Offer.
TRIM SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Bid Trim Selection List items include:
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PET TBA, DET, Mill Cut, and the standard PEI' trim lengths: PET 120",
PET 116-5/8", PET 116", PET 108", PET 105", PET 104-5/8", PET 104-1/2", PET
96", PET 94-1/4", PET 94-1/8", PET 93-1/4", PET 93", PET 92-5/8", PET 92-1/2",
PET 92-1/4", PET 91-1/4", PET 91", PET 88-1/2", PET 88", PET 87-3/4", PET 87",
PET 86-5/8", PET 86-1/2", PET 84", PET 82", PET 81-3/4", PET 74", PET 72",
PET 60", PET 48", and PET 36".
WRAPPED SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Bid Wrapped Selection List items include:
P/W (for Paper Wrapped), PUTT (for Poly Under Top Tier), Open, and P-
Capped (for Paper-Capped).
# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Bid # of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ...
through to 30 loads.
SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST
The Lumber Bid Ship Date Week Of Selection List Input includes a drop-
down list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will
appear
in this format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note: due to Microsoft
bugs,
the date format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy).
BUYER PAYMENT TERMS
A Buying Trader must select the Payment Terms on every Offer he or she
Bids on. The Payment Terms currently available to Buyers include: 1 % 10, Net
30,
or any other terms set up by The Wood Products System Administrator.
Lumber Bid Radio Buttons
The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Make a Lumber Bid form.
BAR CODED RADIO BUTTON
The Bar Coded radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Bar Coding
offered by the Seller for this shipment of lumber.
The Seller's Bar Coding charge is displayed on the Make a Lumber Bid page
below the Bid Price.
If the Buyer selects Yes, the Bar Coding charge will appear to Sellers and
Buyers on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on the
Invoice.
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If the Buyer selects No, the Bar Coding charge will not be added to the cost
of
goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.
The Wood Products Systemis set up so that bar coding charges are entered in
US dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian
S dollars and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid
page the
Buyer will see the Bar Coding charge with the exchange rate factored in.
TARPED RADIO BUTTON
The Tarped radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Tarping offered by
the Seller for this shipment of lumber.
The Seller's Tarping charge is displayed on the Make a Lumber Bid page
below the Bid Price.
If the Buyer selects Yes, the Tarping charge will appear to Sellers and Buyers
on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on on the
Invoice.
If the Buyer selects No, the Tarping charge will not be added to the cost of
goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.
The Wood Products Systemis set up so that tarping charges are entered in US
dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian
dollars
and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page the
Buyer
will see the Tarping charge with the exchange rate factored in.
Lumber Bid Inputs
The following Text Inputs appear on the Make a Lumber Bid form.
TALLY INPUT
The Tally Input allows Buyers to alter the tally of an Offer, in response to
the
implied question, "Do you want to change the tally on the Offer as a condition
of
your Bid?"
LUMBER BID COMMENTS INPUT
Lumber Bid Comments Input allows Buyers to input as text, anything they
want to highlight to a Seller about their Bid. The Selling Trader will view
these
comments at the Monitor Offers page.
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BID PRICE INPUT
The currency an Offer was made is the currency in which the Buyer must
submit a Bid. The Wood Products Systemwill check that the Bid price is at
least 65%
(or as designated in The Wood Products System Settings) of the FOB Destination
S Offer Price. If it is not, the Trader will receive an error message.
Make a Lumber Bid Action Objects
SUBMIT BID
The submit Bid button sends the Bid details made against the lumber Offer to
The Wood Products System. The Buyer's Currently Available Credit is checked to
see that it will cover the Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Transaction
Fee, but not
including Taxes. If the Offer is a multiple load Offer, the Buyer's Credit
must be
checked to see that it will cover the cost for the entire shipment.
Clicking on the submit Bid button generates a confirm Bid details dialogue
box, shown in Figure 9G, offering the Buyer one last chance to review the Bid
Details before submitting them.
Click oK to proceed with the Bid or cancel to return to the Bid Creation page
in to revise the Bid particulars.
Bidding Rules
~ An Offer must be sold in the currency in which it was made.
~ A mill's bar coding and tarping charges appear on the Make a Bid page. With
this
information available, a Buyer can determine how much this will cost for the
load and
can make an informed decision as to whether the shipment should be bar coded
and/or
tarped.
~ No Bid that is less than 65% (or as designated in The Wood Products System
Settings) of
the FOB Destination Price per MBF will be accepted on The Wood Products
System.
~ A Bid is active for 30 minutes whether or not the Buyer is logged on to The
Wood
Products System. This means that a Seller can accept a Bid on an Offer even if
the Buyer
is not active on The Wood Products System. When the Buyer logs on next, a
Notification
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and Audio Alarm message (if activated) of the sale will be delivered to the
Buyer's home
page.
~ A Bid expires automatically after 30 minutes if a Seller does not accept it,
or if The
Wood Products System or the Seller cancels it. The Wood Products System clears
all
Bids at the end of a trading day (7:00 p.m. Chicago time).,
~ The Bid Time begins when The Wood Products System sends confirmation of
receipt to
the Buying Trader.
Buyer's Currently Available Credit
~ When the Bid is submitted, the Buyer's Available Credit is accessed to see
that it can
cover the cost of the Offer.
~ When an Alternate Shipping Destination is selected on the Sales Contract,
the Available
Credit is accessed to see that it can cover the cost of the change.
~ When the Invoice is created, the Available Credit is adjusted (incremented
or
decremented, depending on the final shipment details).
~ When the Invoice is paid, the Available Credit is adjusted (incremented).
~ When a Bid is cancelled, the Available Credit is adjusted (incremented).
ACCEPTED BID CONFIRMATION
When a Bid is accepted by The Wood Products System, The Wood Products
System dates and time stamps it, displays the Bid Status, lists the accepted
Bid
criteria, and sends it to the Buying Trader as confirmation of receipt.
The Bid Time begins when The Wood Products System sends this
confirmation to the Buying Trader.
The details of the Accepted Bid are provided on a bid details page, as shown
in Figure 9H, in the same format as the Make a Bid page. The difference
between the
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two is that the Accepted Bid Details page is static information only, and has
a Monitor
Bids button.
Accepted Bid Confirmation Action Objects
Clicking on Monitor aids takes Buyers to the Monitor Bids page where they
may monitor the activities on all Bids they currently have against The Wood
Products System Offers.
SEARCH FOR PANEL OFFERS
Buyers may search for Offers of lumber or panel on The Wood Products
System. From a search results page, they will be able to view details of any
Offer by
clicking on the Offer #. From the Buyers Lumber Details or Panel Details
pages, a
Buyer will be able to submit a Bid on an Offer.
In order for a Bid to be accepted on an Offer, The Wood Products System
must approve and reserve the Buyer's credit line before the Bid is sent to a
Seller.
The Seller must also have a Freight Rate to the Buyer's Minor Hub.
The Panel Offers Search form, as shown in Figure 9I, allows Buyers to input
search criteria to try and match The Wood Products System panel Offer
listings.
Selection areas are similar to the Seller's Offer page, minus a few of the
Seller's
Offer criteria.
Note: Buyers can also search by one, multiple or all Sellers, by selecting the
Search By Sellers Only option.
Mandatory Fields
There are certain fields that are mandatory on the Panel Search form, and for
which the Buying Trader must provide information. The Mandatory fields on the
Panel Search form are highlighted on the page with an asterisk beside the
field name.
They are:
~ Buyer Accounts
~ Seller Name
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~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Size
~ Grade
~ Profile
The Offer #, Supplemental, and Comments inputs are not required to
complete a valid search form.
If you forget to select a mandatory field, upon clicking the submit This
Search
button, The Wood Products System will let you know; for example, as shown in
Figure 9B.
Clicking oK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that
requires the selection or input.
Pop-Up Help is available for every field on the Panel Search form. Simply
click on a field name, such as "Seller Account" to display Pop-Up Help. See
Help for
Buyers on page 182.
PANEL SEARCH TEMPLATES
Buying Traders have the ability to save the details of a search as a template
for retrieval and submission at another time.
Create and Name a Panel Search Template
To create and name a Panel Search Template, select a value for all the fields
you want to describe in your search.
At the bottom of the screen is the TemPiates management area, as shown in
Figure 6P.
Locate the Name input text area, and give your template a name. You must
name your template in no more than 20 characters, including spaces. We suggest
you
name it using the criteria that will give you immediate recall. For example, a
typical
panel search consists of the following information: 7/16", 4x8, S/E, OSB, APA
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Rated Sheathing. This is too much information to include in a template name.
Therefore, it will be up to each individual Buying Trader to choose what
criteria are
the most important to help him quickly recognize exactly what THIS template
is.
Perhaps an appropriate name would be: 4x8-SE-OSB-APA-Shtng.
S TEMPLATE NAME TIPS
There is a restriction as to what characters are allowed in a Template Name.
Quotation marks (single or double) and the common punctuation marks -- colons,
semi-colons, commas, and periods -- are not allowed.
~_
If you input an invalid character in the Template name, when you select the
Save button, you will receive an error message.
Upon clicking oK, The Wood Products System will take you back to the
Name input box, directly to the invalid character. Simply replace the
character, and
you will be able to save the template.
Save a Search Template
Once you have input the Template Name, click on Save. The newly saved
template will now be displayed in the Select Templates drop-down box.
Select and Load a Search Template
Click on the arrow to the right of the Select templates selection List. This
action will drop the list of items for you to view. You can use your mouse to
scroll
down the list to find the template you want, and when you do, simply release
your
mouse; you can input the first few characters or digits of the template name
to take
you to the template; or you can use your arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll
up or
down the list of templates. As you move your arrow key up and down the list,
you
can see the details of each template appear in the Search form. When you
locate the
template you want to use, simply release your mouse or arrow key.
Traders will select a saved template in order to do one of three things:
t. Submit it as a search for Offers.
2. Change the search in some way and save as a new template before submitting.
s. Delete it.
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Select and Delete a Search Template
Select a template in the same way described above. Once you have located
the template you want to delete, simply click the Delete key and it will
remove the
saved template from your selection list.
PANEL SEARGH INPUTS AND SELECTIONS
Panel Search Selection Lists
The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Panel Search
form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their
drop-down
boxes.
I O BUYER PANEL ACCOUNTS SELECTION LIST
The Buyer Accounts Selection List Input will include all Accounts a Buying
Trader has permission to buy for, as assigned by the The Wood Products System
Administrator.
The default list item for a Buyer's Accounts list is the last Account for
which
the Buyer carried out a transaction.
SELLER NAME SELECTION LIST
Seller Name Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied
question, "Is there a particular Mill or Mills whose panel Offers you would
like to
see?"
Buyers may select All Sellers to search on, or selected ones. To select more
than one Seller Name, click on one name, hold down the CTRL key, and continue
to
click on as many Seller Names as you like. When you have selected them all,
release
your CTRL key.
To view all offers currently posted by one or more Sellers or All Sellers,
click
the search By sever Only option and select the desired Seller or "All Sellers"
option
from the Seller Name field. You may select multiple Sellers by holding down
the
CTRL key and clicking on the desired Sellers.
The default list item for Seller Names will be the All item.
Information on the Seller is available at the Members Directory, and also at
the Search Results page.
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SPECIES SELECTION LIST
The Panel Species Selection List includes the following items:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
Fir Fir
Poplar Poplar
Pine Pine
OSB OSB
CSP CSP
Wafer Board Wafer Board
HDO High Density Overlay
MDO Medium Density Overlay
LUAN LUAN
The default list item for Panel Species is a blank item.
S THICKNESS SELECTION LIST
The Panel Thickness Selection List, in inches, includes:
1/8, 3/16, 11/32, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 15/32, 1/2, 19/32, 5/8, 11/16, 23/32,
3/4,
1, and 1-1/8.
The default list item for Panel Thickness is a blank item.
SIZE SELECTION LIST
The Panel Size Selection List includes the following items, in feet:
4x4, 3x6, 4x8, 4x9, 4x10, 4x12, 5x8, 5x10, and 5x12.
The default list item for Panel Size is a blank item.
GRADE SELECTION LIST
Short forms will be used for the items in the Panel Grades selection list.
They
include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
Rtd. Shtg. Rated Sheathing
Shtg. Sheathing
Select Shtg. Select Sheathing
Tight Face SelectTight Face Select
CDX CDX
CCX CCX
D Grade D Grade
APA Struc 1 R/S APA Structural 1 Rated
Sheathing
Mill Certified Mill Certified
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
APA Rtd. S-I-F APA Rated Stur-I-Floor
Underlayment Underlayment
Sel. U/L Select Underlayment
STD STD
AAX AA Exterior
ABX AB Exterior'
ACX AC Exterior
BBX BB Exterior
BCX BC Exterior
BB Plyform BB Plyform
G 1 S Good 1 Side
G2S Good 2 Side
S1S S1S
S2S S2S
Shop Shop
Factory Factory
APA Rtd. Siding APA Rated Siding
303-6 303-6
APA Rtd. Siding APA Rated Siding
303-18 303-18
APA Decorative SidingAPA Decorative Siding
The default list item for Panel Grades is a blank item.
The full names for Panel Grades and their abbreviated names will be
available to Buyers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
S PANEL PROFILE SELECTION LIST
The Panel Profile Selection List items include:
Abbreviated Name Full Name
T&G Tongue & Groove
COFI T&G COFI Tongue & Groove
S/E Square Edge
T1-11-1-1/4" T1-11-1-1/4"
T1-11-1-1/8" Tl-11-1-1/8"
RB&B 12" Reverse Board & Batten
12"
Channel Groove Channel Groove 4"
4"
Channel Groove Channel Groove 8"
8"
S/L Ship Lapped
The default list item for Panel Profiles is a blank item.
SUPPLEMENTAL SELECTION LIST
Short forms will be used for the items in the Panel Supplemental selection
List. They include:
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Abbreviated Name Full Name
3 Ply 3 Ply
3 Ply P&TS 3 Ply Plugged and Touched
Sanded
4 Ply 4 Ply
4 Ply P&TS 4 Ply Plugged & Touched
Sanded
Ply S Ply
5 Ply P&TS 5 Ply Plugged & Touched
Sanded
Full Sand Full Sand
O&ES Oiled and Edged Sealed
P&TS Plugged and Touched Sanded
Rough Sawn Rough Sawn
Rough Sawn - NG Rough Sawn - No Grooves
Smooth - S/S Smooth - Scratch Sand
The default list item for Panel Supplemental is a blank item.
The full names for Panel Supplemental list items and their abbreviated names
will be available to Sellers in the On-line Help area of the Web site.
Panel Search Input Text Areas
S The following Text Inputs appear on the Lumber Search Form.
OFFER # INPUT
The Offer # Input facilitates the inputting of text in response to the implied
question, "Do you wish to view the details of a specific Panel Offer (perhaps
noticed
on a previous search results screen)?"
Panel Search Action Objects
SUBMIT THIS SEARCH
Submit This search button sends the search information to The Wood Products
System, matches it with The Wood Products System Panel Offer listings, and
returns
them to the Buyer in a Search Results Table.
1 S CLEAR THIS SEARCH
To Clear the form of all its selections, choose one of the following:
~ Click on the Search Panel Offers item in the Lower Navigation Bar under the
Buy tab.
~ Select <New Template> from the Select Templates drop-down list.
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PANEL SEARCH RESULTS
The Panel Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9J, allows Buying Traders
to see what Offers meet their search criteria.
Above the Search Results Table, the Buyer Account Name against which the
Search was made is highlighted at the top.
Alamo-Alamo-Dallas Buying
The input criteria from their search form will be displayed in a summary line
at the top of their Search Results Table in the same order as it appears on
the Search
form:
Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, and Supplemental.
Search Criteria: OSB, 3B, 4x8, Shtg, SlE
The daily Currency Exchange Rate is displayed above the Table as well.
Today's Currency Exchange Rate: $0.6500
PANEL SEARCH RESULTS TABLE
The Search Results Table displays Offers matching a Buyer's Search criteria.
Offers are ranked by FOB Destination Price in descending order.
The information provided at the Panel Search Results Table shows the Buyer
all the criteria of the Offer that was not included on the Search form. This
information is organized into the following columns:
~ FOB Destination Price: Offers must be sold in the currency they were made.
US FOB
Destination prices will be ranked with notional Canadian FOB Destination
prices. The
FOB Destination price a Buyer sees is the Seller's FOB Mill Price + Freight
per MBF +
(the Seller + Buyer Transaction Fee) on the Offer.
~ Seller Name: The name the Buyer sees is comprised of the Short Company Name,
appended to the Selling Account Name, which will be the location of the Mill.
By
selecting the Seller Name, a Profile page for the Seller will be accessed and
displayed.
~ # of Current Bids on the Offer: This lets the Buyer know how many other
Buyers are
interested in the Offer.
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~ Description: Panel description is displayed in the following order: Species,
Thickness,
Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # Of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding,
Tarping, Ship
Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.
~ Comments: Any comments associated with the Offer.
~ Offer #: By clicking on the Offer #, Traders will be able to view the
details of an Offer at
the Make a Panel Bid page. This is also the page that the Buyer may submit a
Bid on the
Offer.
If there are no Offers matching your search criteria, you will receive the
message at the Search Results page, as shown in Figure 9K.
Action Objects
VIEW SELLER PROFILE
Selecting on the Seller Name will generate a Profile page for the Seller, as
shown in Figure 9L.
To return to the Search Results page, the Buyer would simply click in the
window's close box (x) in the upper right hand corner, or click on the close
button at
the bottom of the page.
VIEW PANEL OFFER DETAILS
By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the Make a Panel
Bid page, described and illustrated below.
MAKE A PANEL BID
By clicking on the Offer #, a Buyer will be able to call up the Make a Lumber
Bid page, where the Buyer can view the Offer Details, change any of the items
the
Trader is allowed to change, then make a Bid on the specific Offer.
The Make a Panel Bid page provides a Buyer with all the details of a specific
Offer. Some areas of the Offer will be fixed, and some areas can be changed
before
a Bid is submitted.
The layout of the Make a Panel Bid page, as shown in Figure 9M, mimics the
Seller's Panel Offer page layout for those items that are the same.
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The items a Buying Trader may change before submitting a Bid on an Offer
are:
~ # of Loads
~ Bar Coding (if applicable)
~ Tarping (if applicable)
~ Ship Date Week Of
The Buyer will also be able to submit any conditions or comments he may
have on the Offer along with his Bid Price, by inputting the information in
the Bid
Comments text box provided on the form.
The Buyer must select Payment Terms before submitting the Bid.
All inputs on the Make a Panel Bid page are mandatory. If you forget to
select a mandatory field, upon clicking the Submit This Bid button, a message
box will
appear, for example, as shown in Figure 9B.
Clicking oK at the message screen will take a User directly to the field that
requires the selection or input.
PANEL BID INTPCITS AND SELECTIONS
Panel Bid Selection Lists
The following Selection Lists and their items appear on the Make a Panel Bid
form. The selection list items are in the order they should appear in their
drop-down
boxes.
The default selections for each Selection List will be the item chosen by the
Seller on the original Offer.
# OF LOADS SELECTION LIST
The Panel Bid # of Loads Selection List includes 1 load, 2 loads, 3 loads ...
through to 30 loads.
SHIP DATE WEEK OF SELECTION LIST
The Panel Bid Ship Date Week Of Selection List Input includes a drop-down
list of 15 forward Monday dates for the current year. The list items will
appear in this
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format: 1998-08-23, the international standard (Note: due to Microsoft bugs,
the date
format may be displayed as mm-dd-yy).
BUYER PAYMENT TERMS
A Buying Trader must select the Payment Terms on every Offer he or she
Bids on based on the available options specified in their Buying Account.
Lumber Bid Radio Buttons
The following Radio Button inputs appear on the Make a Panel Bid form.
BAR CODED RADIO BUTTON
The Bar Coded radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Bar Coding
offered by the Seller for this shipment of panel.
The Seller's Bar Coding charge is displayed on the Make a Panel Bid page
below the Bid Price.
If the Buyer selects Yes, the Bar Coding charge will appear to Sellers and
Buyers on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on the
Invoice.
If the Buyer selects No, the Bar Coding charge will not be added to the cost
of
goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.
The Wood Products System is set up so that bar coding charges are entered in
US dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian
dollars and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page
the
Buyer will see the Bar Coding charge with the exchange rate factored in.
TARPED RADIO BUTTON
The Tarped radio button input allows Buyers to refuse the Tarping offered by
the Seller for this shipment of panel.
The Seller's Tarping charge is displayed on the Make a Panel Bid page below
the Bid Price.
If the Buyer selects Yes, the Tarping charge will appear to Sellers and Buyers
on the Sales Contract, and will be added to the cost of goods on the Invoice.
If the Buyer selects No, the Tarping charge will not be added to the cost of
goods on the Sales Contract and on the Invoice.
The Wood Products System is set up so that tarping charges are entered in US
dollars. When a Seller of a Canadian Account puts in an Offer in Canadian
dollars
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and a Canadian Buyer submits a Bid against it, on the Make a Bid page the
Buyer
will see the Tarping charge with The Wood Products System rate factored in.
Panel Bid Inputs
The following Text Inputs appear on the Panel Search form.
PANEL BID COMMENTS INPUT '
Panel Bid Comments Input allows Buyers to input as text, anything they want
to highlight to a Seller about their Bid. The Seller will view these comments
at the
Monitor Offers page.
BID PRICE INPUT
The currency an Offer was made is the currency in which the Buyer must
submit a Bid. The Wood Products System will check that the Bid price is at
least
65% (or as designated in The Wood Products System Settings) of the FOB
Destination Offer Price. If it is not, the Trader will receive an error
message.
Make a Panel Bid Action Objects
SUBMIT BID
The Panel Bid submit eid button sends the Bid details made against the panel
Offer to The Wood Products System. The Buyer's Currently Available Credit is
checked to see that it will cover the Cost of Goods (including Freight) +
Transaction
Fee, but not including Taxes. If the Offer is a multiple load Offer, the
Buyer's Credit
must be checked to see that it will cover the cost for the entire shipment.
Clicking on the submit Bid button generates a confirm Bid details dialogue
box, shown in Figure 9N, offering the Buyer one last chance to review the Bid
Details before submitting them.
Click oK to proceed with the Bid or cancel to return to the Bid Creation page
to
revise the Bid particulars.
Bidding Rules
~ An Offer must be sold in the currency in which it was made.
~ A mill's bar coding and tarping charges appear on the Make a Bid page. With
this
information available, a Buyer can determine how much this will cost for the
load and
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can make an informed decision as to whether the shipment should be bar coded
or
tarped.
~ No Bid that is less than 65% (or as designated in The Wood Products System
Settings) of
the FOB Destination Price per MBF will be accepted on The Wood Products
System.
~ A Bid is active for 30 minutes whether or not the Buyer is 'logged on to The
Wood
Products System. This means that a Seller can accept a Bid on an Offer even if
the Buyer
is not active on The Wood Products System. When the Buyer logs on next, a
Notification
and Audio Alarm message (if activated) of the sale will be delivered to the
Buyer's home
page.
~ A Bid expires automatically after 30 minutes if a Seller does not accept it,
or if The
Wood Products System or the Seller cancels it. The Wood Products System clears
all
Bids at the end of a trading day (7:00 p.m. Chicago time).
~ The Bid Time begins when The Wood Products System sends confirmation of
receipt to
the Buying Trader.
ACCEPTED BID CONFIRMATION
When a Bid is accepted by The Wood Products System, The Wood Products
System dates and time stamps it, displays the Bid Status, lists the accepted
Bid
criteria, and sends it to the Buying Trader as confirmation of receipt.
The Bid Time begins when The Wood Products System sends this
confirmation to the Buying Trader.
The details of the Accepted Bid are provided on a details page, as shown in
Figure 90, in the same format as the Make a Bid page. The difference between
the
two is that the Accepted Bid Details page is static information only, and has
a nnonitor
Bids button.
Accepted Bid Confirmation Action Objects
Clicking on the Monitor Bids button takes Traders to the Monitor Bids page
where they may monitor the activities on all Bids they currently have against
The
Wood Products System Offers.
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MONITOR BIDS
The Buying Trader's Monitor Bids page, as shown in Figure 9P, produces a
summary of all valid Bids a Buyer has posted to The Wood Products System
The Monitor Bids page allows Buying Traders to accomplish the following
tasks:
~ Monitor their Bids on Offers
~ View the details of a selected Offer
~ Clear N/A status Bids
~ Receive Notification when a Seller has accepted a Bid, via the Notification
message box
and Audio Alarm (if activated), and the status of a Bid changing from active
to accepted
~ Receive Notification when a Seller responds to the Buyer's request for a
change in
shipment destination on a Sales Contract
If a Buyer deals in lumber, it will list all his Bids on Lumber Offers. If a
Buyer deals in panel, it will list all his Bids on Panel Offers. If the Buyer
deals in
both lumber and panel, both will appear on the same table. These listings will
be
organized first by Lumber or Panel, and then by Buyer Account.
MONITOR BIDS TABLE
Pop-Up Help is available for every column heading in the table. Simply click
on a column heading, such as "Offer #" to display Pop-Up Help. See Heip for
Buyers
on page 178.
The information provided to Buying Traders at the Monitor Bids page is
displayed in a table. The details displayed to the Buying Trader in the
Monitor Bids
table appear in columns. From left to right, the column headings include:
~ Offer #: Clicking on the Offer # will generate the Offer Details page.
~ Bid #: Clicking on the Bid # will generate the Bid Details page.
~ Asking Price: The Seller's Offer price.
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~ Bid Price: The price the Buyer Bid on the Offer.
~ Selected Lumber Bid Details in the following order:
Species
Thickness
Width
Length
Trim or Tally
Surface
Moisture
Grade
Grade Stamped
Wrapping
Supplemental
Profile
# of Loads
Transport
Bar Coding
Tarping
Ship Date Week Of
Board Footage
Unit Size
~ Selected Panel Offer Details, in the following order:
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Size
~ Grade
~ Profi le
~ Supplemental
~ # of Loads
~ Transport
~ Bar Coding
~ Tarping
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~ Ship Date Week Of
~ Square Footage
~ Unit Size
~ Comments: Comments may be viewed by clicking on the cloud icon in this
column.
~ Bid Status: There are three possible Bid statuses:
1. An active Bid will be shown by the Bid Expiry Time in green.
2. An accepted Bid will be have the green A status.
3. A Bid that has timed out or been cancelled by the Seller or The Wood
Products System
will be given a red NA status.
~ Clear Bid: By clicking in the checkbox on the far right column, then
clicking on the (X) in
the table heading, the selected Offers will be cleared from the Monitor Bids
page. Active
Bids will not have a checkbox so that they can not be cancelled. Bids made
against the
cancelled Offer will be voided, and Buying Traders' Currently Available Credit
Limits
will be incremented.
An Offer Details page is displayed in a second browser window when the
Offer # is clicked. To close the window, click on the (x) button at the top
right corner
of the page, or click on the Close button at the bottom of the page.
Figure 9Q is an example of a Lumber Offer Details page generated by
clicking on an Offer #.
A Bid Details page is displayed in a second browser window when the Bid #
is clicked. To close the window, click on the (x) button at the top right
corner of the
page.
Figure 9R is an example of a Lumber Bid Details page generated by clicking
on a Bid #.
OFFER EXPANSION TABLE
By clicking on the magnifying glass icon beside the Offer #, the Trader will
produce an expanded view of original Offer details.
It provides the same details as the Bid Details in the Monitor Bids Table,
with
the addition of the Seller Name.
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The Selected Lumber Offer Details shown in the expanded table is:
Species
Thickness
Width
Length
Trim or Tally
Surface
Moisture
Grade
Grade Stamped
Wrapping
Supplemental
Profile
# of Loads
Transport
Bar Coding
Tarping
Ship Date Week Of
Board Footage
Unit Size
~ The Selected Panel Offer Details shown in the expanded table is:
~ Species
Thickness
Size
Grade
Profile
Supplemental
# of Loads
Transport
Bar Coding
Tarping
Ship Date
Week Of
Square Footage
Unit Size
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If any of the Offer Details are different than the Bid Details, they will be
highlighted in blue.
BUYER SALES CONTRACTS
When a Seller accepts a Bid on an Offer, a Sales Contract is generated and
sent to the Buyer. The Buyer receives Notification of an accepted Bid in two
ways:
The status of the Bid turns from the green Bid Expiry Time to a green A for
Accepted in
the Monitor Bids Table.
2. The Notification message box appears at the top of the Buyer's Monitor Bids
page.
SALES CONTRACTS
Figure 9S illustrates the Sales Contracts area of the Web site for a Buyer.
A Buyer has access to each individual Sales Contract (one for each load in a
Multiple Load Offer, or just one for a single load Offer) or the Group Sales
Contracts. The Sales Contracts are organized in a table under the following
column
headings:
~ Sales Contract #: Group and individual
~ Offer # associated with the Sales Contract
~ Bid # associated with the Sales Contract
~ Seller Name: the Account the Selling Trader selected at Make an Offer
~ Buyer Name: the Account the Buying Trader selected at Search for an Offer,
and where
the shipment is being delivered
~ Total Price per load
~ Status of the Sales Contract
The possible statuses of a Sales Contract are:
~ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer
~ V for Viewed by the Buyer
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~ CR for Change Request
~ NA for Change Request Not Accepted
~ A for Change Request Accepted
~ INV for Invoiced
~ CNCL for Cancelled
~ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled
GROUP SALES CONTRACT
Figure 9T illustrates a Group Sales Contract page.
In the left frame of the page, a Buyer can see the Sales Contract Group #, the
individual SC #s, and the status of the individual Sales Contracts. Clicking
on an
individual Sales Contract # will generate the Sales Contract in the right
frame of the
page.
In the right frame of the page, is the Group Sales Contract information. At
the
top of the page, the Sales Contract Group #, the Date it was issued, the
Seller Name,
and the associated Offer and Bid #s appear. Clicking on the Offer # will open
a new
browser window and display the Offer Details page.
In the second table, the Transport Type selected on the Offer appears in the
first column, then the Accepted Bid Details. Accepted Bid Lumber Details are
displayed in the following order: Species, Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or
Tally,
Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade Stamped, Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of
Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarpfing, Ship Date Week Of, Board Footage, and
Unit Size.
Accepted Bid Panel Details are displayed in the following order: Species,
Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads, Transport, Bar
Coding,
Tarpfing, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.
This column is followed by Approx. Quantity (Square Footage), Unit Size,
and Ship Date Week Of columns.
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The third table on the Sales Contracts page provides the following
information:
~ SC #: This column lists the Sales Contract #s for each load of the accepted
Bid.
~ Buyer Name: The Buyer whose Bid was accepted appears here.
~ FOB Destination Price: The price submitted by the Buyer.
~ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or
MSF).
~ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF (or MSF) for the Offer.
(MBF =
Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided
by
1000.)
~ Approximate Total Price (Net of Taxes): The Extended Price + the Tarpfing
Charge (per
load).
~ Requested Destination: If a Buying Trader wishes to submit a change request
to the
Seller to ship a load to an alternate destination, they would select another
Buying
Account from the selection list here.
~ New FOB Destination Price: When a Buying Trader selects a new Buying
Account, The
Wood Products System recalculates the FOB Destination Price and shows it here.
~ New Approximate Total Price (Net of Taxes): When a Buying Trader selects a
new
Buying Account, The Wood Products System recalculates the Approximate Total
Price
and shows it here.
~ Status of the individual Sales Contracts
The possible statuses of a Sales Contract are:
~ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer
~ V for Viewed by the Buyer
~ CR for Change Request
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~ NA for Change Request Not Accepted
~ A for Change Request Accepted
~ INV for Invoiced
~ CNCL for Cancelled
S ~ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled
INDIVIDUAL BUYERS SALES CONTRACTS
Selecting one of the SC #'s from the left frame of the page, will generate a
single Sales Contract, as shown in Figure 9U.
A Buyer can specify a Purchase Order Number (PO #) on the Sales Contract
which will be carried forward to the Invoice, as shown by the detail in Figure
9V.
In the Buyer's PO # field (upper left corner of the Sales Contract), type the
PO #. A diskette icon appears prompting you to save the PO #, as shown in
Figure
9W. Click the diskette icon to save the PO #. If changes are needed for any
reason,
these steps may be repeated.
Note: A PO # can be added to any Sales Contract, except for ones that have
been cancelled or are undergoing a Change Request.
The Seller will then receive a Notification specifying that a Buyer PO # is
included on the Sales Contract.
An individual Buyer's Sales Contract is shown in Figure 9X.
The information included on the Buyer's Sales Contract includes the
following information:
At the top of the page:
~ The Sales Contract #
~ The Date the Sales Contract was Issued. If an Amended Sales Contract is
issued, the Date
Issued will reflect the date the Amended Sales Contract was issued, which is
when the
Seller accepts a Change Request from a Buyer.
~ Offer #
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~ Bid #
~ Seller's PO # (if entered by Seller)
~ Buyer's PO # (if entered by Buyer)
In the first table, the following information is provided:
~ Sold By Information
~ Selling Company Name, Account and Address
~ Sold To Information
~ Buyer Company Name, Account and Billing Address
~ Ship and Consign To Information
~ Buyer Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address-Rail
Carrier & Spur, if needed-is built into shipping address to appear on the
Sales
Contract)
In the second table, the following information is provided:
~ Details of the Lumber Shipment, organized into the following columns:
~ Transport Type
~ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order:
Species,
Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade
Stamped,
Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, Bar Coding, Tarpfing,
Ship
Date Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the
following order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of
Loads,
Transport, Bar Coding, Tarpfing, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit
Size.
~ Approx. Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage)
~ Unit Size (pieces/unit)
~ Ship Date Week Of
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~ Below this, appears the financial information:
~ Buyer Name (Buyer Account)
~ FOB Destination Price: The Buyer's Bid on the Offer, including the Freight.
~ Bar Coding, if applicable.
~ Sub-Total: The FOB Destination Price + the Bar Coding Charge (per MBF or
MSF).
~ Extended Price: The Sub-total times the total MBF or MSF for the Offer. (MBF
=
Board Footage quantity divided by 1000. MSF = Square Footage quantity divided
by
1000.)
~ Tarpfing, if applicable.
~ Approximate Total Price, Net of Taxes: The Extended Price + the Tarpfing
Charge
(per load).
~ Below this appears space for any comments made by the Buyer, Seller or both
on the
Offer and/or Bid.
~ A Close button at the bottom of the page will return the User to the Sales
Contract Group
page.
The Download button allows the Buyer to save the Sales Contract information
(see Downloading instructions on page 90).
CHANGE REQUESTS
If a Buyer requests that a shipment of Lumber or Panel be delivered to an
alternate location from the one in the Accepted Bid Details, they would
request the
change on their Group Sales Contract page, as shown in Figure 10A, and submit
it to
the Selling Trader for approval and acceptance.
A Seller receives Notification of a Change Request via a Notification message
box at the top of the Monitor Offers page.
25 The Seller will Accept or Reject a Change Request, and send their response
back to the Buyer, who will receive Notification of this at the Monitor Bids
page. By
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clicking on the Notification message box, the Buyer would be taken to the
Sales
Contract page. The new Sales Contract would have a red arrow next to the SC #
identifying it as unviewed. If the Seller accepts a Change Request, an Amended
Sales Contract is generated and sent to the Buyer to view. The only change
request
comment that is retained on the new amended Sales Contract is one input by the
Seller when accepting the Change Request. The original Sales Contract # will
have a
-1 appended to it. The numeral appended will reflect how many times the Seller
has
accepted a change request to the same Offer. The status of the Sales Contract
will be
Nv, reflecting that the Buyer has not yet viewed the Seller's response.
The Buyer would then click on the Sales Contract # to generate the Amended
Sales Contract page. The recalculated prices will appear on the page.
If the Seller rejects a Change Request, the response is sent back to the
Buyer,
and no changes are made to the original Sales Contract. The status of the
Sales
Contract would be NA, reflecting that the Seller did not accept the Buyer's
change
request. The Buyer is not requested to view the Sales Contract again if the
Seller
rejects the change request.
Numbering of Sale Contracts
Sales Contract #s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader accepts
a Bid on an Offer. The Sales Contract # "C99010002837" consists of the
following:
~ C for Sales Contract.
~ 99 - A two-digit # denoting the year the Sales Contract is created.
~ 01 - A two-digit # denoting the month the Sales Contract is created.
~ 0002837 - A seven-digit identification #.
In the case of a Multiple Load Offer, however, an alpha character is appended
to the Sales Contract #. For example, an Offer of S loads would generate Sales
Contracts C990I0002837A, C99010002837B, C99010002837C, C99010002837D,
and C99010002837E.
Amended sales contracts are created when a Seller agrees to ship an order to
an
alternate destination, requested by the Buyer with a change Request. The Sales
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Contract # is changed by appending a dash and a numeral to the end of the
Sales
Contract #. The Amended Sales Contract # would be 099010002837 -1, for
example.
Each time a Sales Contract is changed, the amended # is incremented by one. If
a
Sales Contract is changed 5 times, the final SC # would be 099010002837 -S.
In the case of a change being made to one shipment of a Multiple Load Offer,
the dash and numeral would be appended to the Sales Contract # as follows:
C99010002837A-1.
REPORTS
BUYING REPORTS
The Reports tab will be available only to those Members who have been given
permission to generate and view reports. Reports are assigned on an Account-by-
Account basis to all Buyer Members.
Buying Reports will allow Buying Traders and Supervisors to view historical
information for all Bids, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to
transactions created
by the Company's Traders on The Wood Products System.
The Buying Reports area of the Web site allows Buying Members to select a
Company (or all Companies), a Buying Account (or all Accounts), and a date
range,
from and to, for each specific type of report. Bids, Buying Sales Contracts,
Credit
Usage, Buying Invoices, Credit Notes and Unpaid Buying Invoices categorize the
types of reports available to Buying Members.
Selecting a Report Type then clicking the Refresh button will generate the
requested report in the right frame of the page.
The Download button allows the Buyer to save the Report information (see
Downloading instructions on page 90).
Bid Reports
Figure lOB shows a Bid Report for the Alamo Lumber Company's Alamo-
Dallas Buying Account.
Bid Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
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~ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Bid Date & Time
~ Bid #: Clicking on the Bid # opens a second browser window with the selected
Lumber Bid Details or Panel Bid Details page
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Destination Price (This is the price submitted on the Bid by the Buying
Trader)
~ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))x # of loads
~ Total CDN Price (if applicable)
~ Expiry time of the Bid, date and time
~ The Trader name associated with the Bid
~ The Bid Status: A for Accepted, NA for Not Accepted, or ACT for Active
Above the Status column is the Get Status Help link that when clicked on
I S displays the following information, as shown in Figure l OC.
By clicking on one of the column headings, a Buyer is able to sort the table
by the information contained in that column.
Sales Contract Reports
Figure 10 D shows a Sales Contracts Report for the Company's Buying
Account.
Sales Contract Reports provide Buyer Members with the following
information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Date & Time the Sales Contract was Issued
~ Sales Contract #: Clicking on the SC # opens a second browser window with
the
selected Sales Contract Details page
~ Seller Name: the Selling Account
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
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~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Destination Price: The Bid Price submitted by the Buying Trader
~ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))
~ Total CDN Price (if applicable)
S ~ The Trader name associated with the Offer
~ The Sales Contract Status:
~ NV for Not Viewed by the Buyer
~ V for Viewed by the Buyer
~ CR for Change Request
~ NA for Change Request Not Accepted
~ A for Change Request Accepted
~ INV for Invoiced
~ CNCL for Cancelled
~ R for reinstated when an Invoice is cancelled
Above the Status column is the yet status Help link that when clicked on
displays the following information, as shown in Figure 10E.
~ Clicking on the status item for any Sales Contract will generate a
historical report of
the Sales Contract in a new browser window. This SC History table tracks the
life of
a Sales Contract: status changes, requests for change in destination, through
to
invoicing.
~ The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.
~ The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts included
on the
report.
By clicking on one of the column headings, a Buyer is able to sort the table
by the information contained in that column.
Figure lOF shows a SC History table, generated when a Buyer clicks on the
INV status code for Sales Contract # C99040000159A.
Credit Usage Reports
Credit Usage Reports provide Buyer Members with the following
information, as shown in Figure lOG.
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
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~ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Date and Time the Buyer's Credit was accessed
~ #: This refers to the Transaction type, defined in the next column. If the
transaction
is a Bid, it will be the Bid #. If the Transaction is an Offer, it will be the
Offer #. If
the transaction is a Sales Contract, it will be the SC #.
~ Transaction: The transactions reported are:
~ Updated Account Credit Limit
~ Updated Credit Limit
~ Created Lumber Bid
~ Created Panel Bid
~ Destination Change Requests for SC
~ Change Destination Approved for SC
~ Changed Destination Rejected for SC
~ Invoice Created
~ Bid Cancelled
~ Bid Expired
~ Change Credit Sharing
~ Change Credit Source
~ Debit: the Amount debited from the Credit Amount
~ Credit: the Amount credited to the Credit Amount
~ US Notional: Converts credit usage from $CDN to $US in total
~ Credit Used
By clicking on one of the column headings, a Buyer is able to sort the table
by the information contained in that column.
invoice Reports
Figure l OH shows an Invoice Report for the Company's Buying Account.
Invoice Reports provide Buyer Members with the following information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:
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~ Date & Time the Invoice was Issued
~ Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the
selected Invoice Details page
~ Seller Name (or Seller Account name)
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Destination Price (the Bid Price submitted by the Buying Trader)
~ Total Price (FOB Destination Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))
~ Total CDN Price (if applicable)
~ The Trader name associated with the Offer
~ The Invoice Status
~ The Total Price reflects the amount of sales per Account.
~ The Grand Total Price reflects the amount of sales for all Accounts included
in the
1 S report.
By clicking on one of the column headings, a Buyer is able to sort the table
by the information contained in that column.
Credit Notes Reports
A Credit Note is issued to a Buyer when a The Wood Products System
Administrator cancels an Invoice.
The information provided on the Credit Note is the same as its associated
Buying Invoice. The cost details, however, will have the letters ctt appended
to them.
Figure l0I shows a Credit Notes Report for the Company's Buying Account.
Credit Notes Reports provide Buyer Members with the following
information:
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the selected date
range are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below, the following information can be viewed:
~ Cancelled Invoice #
~ Cancelled Invoice Date
~ Credit Note #
~ Credit Note Date
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~ Seller
~ Buyer
~ Re-Issued Invoice #
~ Re-Issued Invoice Date & Time
~ Re-Issued Invoice Status
By clicking on one of the column headings, a Buyer is able to sort the table
by the information contained in that column.
Unpaid Buying Invoices Reports
Unpaid Buying Invoices Reports provide the The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure l OJ.
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the date are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Date & Time Issued
~ Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the
I S selected Invoice page
~ Seller Name
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Destination Price (This is the price submitted on the Bid by the Buying
Trader)
~ Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000})
~ Total CDN Price (if applicable)
~ The Trader name associated with the invoice
A Total Price and Grand Total Price are displayed at the bottom of the table.
By selecting one of the column headings, the Wood Products System
Administrator is able to sort the table by the information contained in that
column.
BUYER INVOICES
When a shipment has been shipped, the Seller Accountant will create the
Seller Invoice and submit it to The Wood Products System. The Invoice is
created
from the final Sales Contract details.
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A Commercial Accounting application will generate the Buyer Invoice and
deliver it to the Company's Billing Address.
The Buyer's Invoice is available on The Wood Products System through the
Reports facility. A Buyer Member assigned to an Account would select the
Reports
tab in the Top Navigation Bar, then the Buying Reports option in the Lower
Navigation Bar. By selecting a Company and an Account, then clicking on the
Invoicing Report Type and Refresh, an Invoicing Report is generated in the
right
frame of the page, as shown in Figure l OL.
By selecting an individual Invoice #, the Buyer Invoice is generated.
THE BUYER INVOICE
The Invoice that is created for a Buyer will consist of static information
only.
The Invoice page itself is divided into 6 areas. The first area, at the top of
the
Invoice page, includes the Invoice # (generated by The Wood Products System),
Today's Date, the associated Offer, Bid, and Sales Contract #'s. The Seller's
and
Buyer's PO #'s are also provided (if applicable).
The second area of the Invoice is a table that provides the following
information:
~ Sold By Information
~ Selling Company Name, Account and Address
~ Sold To Information
~ Buyer Company Name, Account and Billing Address
~ Ship and Consign To Information
~ Buyer Company Name, Account and Shipping Address (Siding Address-Rail
Carrier & Spur, if needed-is built into shipping address to appear on the
Sales
Contract)
The third area of the Invoice is a table with details of the Shipment,
organized
into the following columns:
~ Transport Type
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~ # of Loads-this will indicate the total number of loads in the Bid, not the
loads being
shipped for this invoice.
~ Accepted Bid Details. Lumber Details are displayed in the following order:
Species,
Thickness, Width, Length, Trim or Tally, Surface, Moisture, Grade, Grade
Stamped,
Wrapping, Supplemental, Profile, # of Loads, Transport, )far Coding, Tarpfing,
Ship Date
Week Of, Board Footage, and Unit Size. Panel Details are displayed in the
following
order: Species, Thickness, Size, Grade, Profile, Supplemental, # of Loads,
Transport, Bar
Coding, Tarpfing, Ship Date Week Of, Square Footage, and Unit Size.
~ Quantity (Board Footage or Square Footage): The actual amount that has been
loaded on
the truck or rail car.
The fourth area of the Invoice consists of a table with the following
information, taken from the f nal Sales Contract details:
~ Buyer Name (Buyer Account)
~ FOB Destination Price
~ Number of Pieces
The final Shipping information appears in the fifth area of the Invoice page.
This information includes:
~ Bill of Lading #
~ Actual Ship Date
~ Routing
~ Car #, if Rail
~ Contact Name for the Shipper
~ Phone # for the Shipper
The sixth area contains the cost breakdown of the shipment. These costs
include:
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~ Cost of Goods. Unit Price times Total MBF or MSF divided by 1000, rounded to
2
decimals (including shipping and handling).
~ Freight Charge: Total MBF or MSF x Freight Rate divided by 1000, rounded to
2
decimals.
~ Bar Coding Charge: Bar Coding Rate times Total MBF or MSF, rounded to 2
decimals.
~ Tarpfing Charge: Tarpfing Rate per load.
~ Sub-Total: The sum of Cost of Goods (including Freight) + Bar Coding +
Tarpfing.
~ Taxes: any applicable taxes
~ Gross Total: The sum of the Sub-Total + Taxes, rounded to 2 decimals.
~ Discount: Less (the Cost of Goods less-Total Freight) times (the Discount
Rate divided
by 100), rounded to 2 decimals.
~ Net Total: The Gross Total minus the discount.
BUYER LOG OFF
To log off of The Wood Products System, a Buyer should click on the Log
Off option on the Bottom Navigation Bar. Before being able to log Off of The
Wood
Products System, a Buyer will be transferred to the Exit The Wood Products
System
page, as shown in Figure l OM.
Buying Traders are informed if they have any outstanding Bids at the time of
Log Off, and that they will remain active on The Wood Products System for the
30-
minute life of a Bid. This means that a Seller may accept a Bid on an Offer
even if
the Buying Trader is logged off of The Wood Products System. They are also
notified if there is an unviewed or cancelled Sales Contract or Invoice.
If a Buyer does not deal with outstanding Sales Contracts before logging off,
upon logging on the next time, the Buyer will again be reminded to view them.
The
Wood Products System sends a message to the Buyer via the Notification Alert
message
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box at the top of the Buyer's Home page. If the Notification Aiert message box
is
present when the Buyer logs on, the Buyer should immediately read it. Clicking
on
the message box will generate the Notifications page, as shown in Figure 1 ON.
By selecting a Message ID #, the Buying Trader may view the messages sent
S from The Wood Products System, as shown in Figure 100.
If, at the end of the second business day the Buyer has not viewed a Sales
Contract, an Exception Notice will be sent to the Buyer's Supervisor (or
Member
Administrator. This is determined at registration.). If at the end of the
third business
day, or 72 hours from the time it was generated, the Sales Contract is still
unviewed,
a Notification will be sent to The Wood Products System for appropriate
action.
Buyer Log Off Actions
VIEW SALES CONTRACTS
Buyers are informed if they have any unviewed Sales Contracts, and are
encouraged to go back to their Sales Contracts area of the Web site to
administer
them before logging off. Once the task has been completed, the Buyer would
select
the jog off button in the Bottom Navigation Bar again, or the Log Off button
at the
bottom of the Exit The Wood Products System page, and proceed with the Exit
The
Wood Products System procedure.
LOG OFF
If a Buyer does not wish to view any outstanding Sales Contracts, s/he may
select the jog off button to exit The Wood Products System.
HELP FOR BUYERS
Help is available to Buyers from the field names on the Search Lumber
Offers and the Search Panel Offers forms.
SEARCH FOR LUMBER OFFERS POP-UP HELP
BUYER ACCOUNTS
An Account represents a delivery location.
A Buyer may purchase multiple loads of lumber for one location, and
subsequently request a change of shipment destination per Sales Contract.
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For example: Central Purchasing Bids on 10 loads of lumber for one
destination. It is accepted by the Seller and a Sales Contract is generated.
Central
Purchasing may then request that each load be delivered to a different
location, by
selecting a different Buying Account, from the list of all the Company's
Buying
Accounts, available on the Sales Contract.
Note that FOB Delivered prices will change based on the Freight Rates to
each Buying Location.
If your Company has a delivery location that does not appear in this list,
contact the The Wood Products System Administrator to request a new Account be
created for this location.
This is a mandatory field.
GRADE
Select the Grade of lumber you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list
items on
page 132).
LENGTH
Select the Length of lumber, in feet and inches or "R/L" for Random Lengths,
you are interested in purchasing.
If "R/L" is selected, you will be prevented from selecting a "Trim" value.
This is a mandatory field.
MOISTURE
Select the Moisture content of the lumber you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Moisture list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Moisture list items. (See
Moisture list items on page 132).
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NAME AND SAVE A TEMPLATE
Buyers may choose to save a search form as a Template to use over again. If,
for example, you consistently purchase 2x4, R/L, SYP,#3 lumber, you can create
this
search, save it as a Template, then retrieve it repeatedly to re-submit as a
new search.
The Buyer Account names and Seller Names are not saved in a Template.
You will need to select these items each time you (call up a Template before
submitting the search. Offer #'s are also not saved in a Template.
It is suggested that you name your Templates in a way that you can instantly
recognize them. There is a maximum of 20 characters, including spaces, you may
use
to name any Template.
You may not use the following characters in a Template name:
single quotes '
double quotes '~
commas
semi-colons ;
colons ,
periods .
PROFILE
Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured lumber you are
interested in purchasing.
This is not a mandatory field.
If there are any manufactured products not listed here that you are interested
in purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.
Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list
items on
page 136).
SELECT A TEMPLATE
This list displays the names of search Templates you have previously created
and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then
releasing it.
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If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once
one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the
Template
list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the
Template will
display on the form.
S SELLER NAME
Seller Name Input allows you the option of seeing specific Sellers' Offers, or
All Sellers Offers.
The names of Sellers that appear in this list are all the Mills who are
Members of The Wood Products System who have Freight Rates to your destination
locations.
You may select as many Seller Names as you like before submitting your
search. To select more than one Seller Name, use your mouse to point and click
on
one Seller Name. Hold down your CTRL key, and select as many other Seller
Names
as you like. When you have selected as many as you wish, release your CTRL key
and Submit the search.
The Wood Products System recommends you choose All Sellers to see the
maximum amount of Offers currently on the market.
This is a mandatory field.
Tip: At the search results table, Seller Name is one of the column headings.
Clicking on a Seller Name will display a Profile page for the Seller. Also,
information about any Seller Member on The Wood Products System can be found
at
the Members Directory area.
SPECIES
Select the Species of lumber you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See
Species
list items on page 130).
SUPPLEMENTAL
If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the lumber in this
search.
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This is not a mandatory field.
If there are manufactured products not included in this list that you are
interested in purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.
Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items.
(See
Supplemental list items on page 135).
SURFACE
Select the Surface finish for the lumber you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Surface list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Surface list items.
THICKNESS
Select the Thickness, in inches, of the lumber you are interested in
purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
TRIM
Select the appropriate Trim length of the lumber you are interested in
purchasing.
If "R/L" was selected in the "Length" field, you will be prevented from
selecting a "Trim" value.
If a Length other than "R/L" is selected, this field is mandatory.
If you select a specific PET Trim length, you will be shown Offers submitted
by Sellers with this specific PET Trim length plus those Offers submitted by
Sellers
with the PET TBA Trim value.
WIDTH
Select the Width, in inches, of the lumber you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
SEARCH FOR PANEL OFFERS POP-UP HELP
BUYER ACCOUNTS
An Account represents a delivery location.
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A Buyer may purchase multiple loads of panel for one location, and
subsequently request a change of shipment destination per Sales Contract.
For example: Central Purchasing Bids on 10 loads of panel for one
destination. It is accepted by the Seller and a Sales Contract is generated.
Central
Purchasing may then request that each load be delivered to a different
location, by
selecting a different Buying Account, from the list of all the Company's
Buying
Accounts, available on the Sales Contract.
Note that FOB Delivered prices will change based on the Freight Rates to
each Buying Location.
If your Company has a delivery location that does not appear in this list,
contact the The Wood Products System Administrator to request a new Account be
created for this location.
This is a mandatory field.
GRADE
Select the Grade of the panel you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Grade list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Grade list items. (See Grade list
items on
page 148).
NAME AND SAVE A TEMPLATE
Buyers may choose to save a search form as a Template to use over again. If,
for example, you consistently purchase 1 /2", 4x 12, Pine panel, you can
create this
search, save it as a Template, then retrieve it repeatedly to re-submit as a
new search.
The Buyer Account names and Seller Names are not saved in a Template.
You will need to select these items each time you call up a Template before
submitting the search. Offer #'s are also not saved in a Template.
It is suggested that you name your Templates in a way that you can instantly
recognize them. There is a maximum of 20 characters, including spaces, you may
use
to name any Template.
You may not use the following characters in a Template name:
single quotes
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double quotes "
commas ,
semi-colons ;
colons
periods
PROFILE
Select the Profile characteristics of the manufactured panel you are
interested
in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
If there are manufactured products not listed here that you are interested in
purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.
Short forms are used for some of the Profile list items. Below is a comparison
of the abbreviated and full name of the Profile list items. (See Profile list
items on
page 149).
SELECT A TEMPLATE
This list displays the names of search Templates you have previously created
and saved. Select one, by clicking on a Template name with your mouse, then
releasing it.
If you want to view the details of your Templates before selecting one, once
one is highlighted, use the arrow key on your keyboard to travel down the
Template
list one at a time. As you stop on a Template name, the details of the
Template will
display on the form.
SELLER NAME
Seller Name Input allows you the option of seeing specific Sellers' Offers, or
All Sellers Offers.
The names of Sellers that appear in this list are all the Mills who are
Members of The Wood Products System who have Freight Rates to your destination
locations.
You may select as many Seller Names as you like before submitting your
search. To select more than one Seller Name, use your mouse to point and click
on
one Seller Name. Hold down your CTRL key, and select as many other Seller
Names
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as you like. When you have selected as many as you wish, release your CTRL key
and Submit the search.
The Wood Products System recommends you choose All Sellers to see the
maximum amount of Offers currently on the market.
This is a mandatory field.
Tip: At the search results table, Seller Name is one of the column headings.
Clicking on a Seller Name will display a Profile page for the Seller. Also,
information about any Seller Member on The Wood Products System can be found
at
the Members Directory area.
IO SIZE
Select the length and width, in feet, of the panel you are interested in
purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
SPECIES
Select the Species of panel you are interested in purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
Short forms are used for some of the Species list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Species list items. (See
Species
list items on page 148).
SUPPLEMENTAL
If appropriate, select the Supplemental characteristic for the panel in this
search.
This is not a mandatory field.
If there are manufactured products not included in this list that you are
interested in purchasing, please contact The Wood Products System.
Short forms are used for some of the Supplemental list items. Below is a
comparison of the abbreviated and full name of the Supplemental list items.
(See
Supplemental list items on page 1 SO).
THICKNESS
Select the Thickness, in inches, of the panel you are interested in
purchasing.
This is a mandatory field.
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MONITOR BIDS POP-UP HELP
OFFER #
Offer #'s are generated by the system when a Selling Trader submits an
Offer. The Offer number "099050009837" consists of the following:
~ "O" for Offer
~ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted.
~ "OS" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted.
~ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number.
An Offer remains active while the trader is logged on to The Wood Products
System and on hold when the trader is logged off. It stays in the system up to
7
business days after creation unless cancelled or sold.
Click the Offer # to view the Offer details.
BID #
Bid #'s are generated by the system when a Buying Trader submits a Bid on
an Offer. The Bid number "B99050009837" consists of the following:
~ "B" for Bid
~ "99" - A two-digit number denoting the year the Offer is submitted
~ "OS" - A two-digit number denoting the month the Offer is submitted
~ "0009837" - A seven-digit identification number
Click the Bid # to view the Bid details.
ASKING PRICE
The Seller's FOB Destination Price as entered when the Offer was created.
BID PRICE
The FOB Destination Price entered by the Buyer as the Bid Price.
BID DETAILS (LUMBER)
Bid Details include the following information (listed in the order they
appear):
~ Species
~ Thickness x Width
~ Length [Random Length (R/L) or Feet and Inches]
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~ Trim or Tally - If you have selected R/L, the tally appears; if you selected
a length
other than R/L, the trim appears
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
~ Grade Stamped (GS for Grade Stamped, NGS for Not~Grade Stamped)
~ Wrapping (P/W for Paper Wrapped, PUTT for Poly Under Top Tier, or Open)
~ Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ Profile (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ # of loads
~ Transport Mode
~ Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)
~ Tarped (T for Tarpfing Available or NT for Tarpfing Not Available)
~ Ship Date Week Of- Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday of the
selected
week.
~ Board Footage
~ Unit Size
B!D DETAILS (PANEL
Bid Details include the following information (listed in the order they
appear):
~ Species
~ Thickness x Width
~ Length [Random Length (R/L) or Feet and Inches)
~ Trim or Tally - If you have selected R/L, the tally appears; if you selected
a length
other than R/L, the trim appears
~ Surface
~ Moisture
~ Grade
~ Grade Stamped (GS for Grade Stamped, NGS for Not Grade Stamped)
~ Wrapping (P/W for Paper Wrapped, PUTT for Poiy Under Top Tier, or Open)
~ Supplemental (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ Profile (since this is not a mandatory field, it may be empty)
~ # of loads
~ Transport Mode
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~ Bar Coded (BC for Bar Coding Available or NBC for Bar Coding Not Available)
~ Tarped (T for Tarpfing Available or NT for Tarpfing Not Available)
~ Ship Date Week Of - Ship Dates are always listed as the Monday of the
selected
week.
~ Board Footage
~ Unlt SIZe
COMMENTS
If a comment is included with the Bid, a cloud icon will appear in this
column. Clicking on the icon will display the comment in a message box.
1 O BID STATUS
The status of a Bid can be:
A The Seller accepted your Bid on the Offer.
Your Bid is still active on the system, as
Active indicated by the presence of the Bid expiry
time (e.g., 13:42).
Your Bid was not accepted by the Seller,
NA cancelled by the Seller or The Wood
Products System, or timed out (after 30
minutes or at the end of the trading day).
ADMINISTRATION
1 S USER ADMINISTRATION
Creating A The Wood Products System User
The Wood Products System Users are created to allow them access to
perform various functions on The Wood Products System. All The Wood Products
System Users are given Company level access to The Wood Products System
20 Members.
To create a new The Wood Products System User, the Wood Products
System Administrator clicks on the Administration tab on the Lower Navigation
Bar,
under Operations to obtain the display shown in Figure 11 A.
Click on the Create New The Wood Products System User button in the left
frame,
25 and a new user form will be produced on the right, as shown in Figure 11 B.
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The new user form is separated into two areas: Personal and User Roles.
PERSONAL
The fields for Personal information are as follows:
~ First Name*
S ~ Title
~ Telephone*
~ E-mail-If e-mail address is entered, The Wood Products System Operations
Users can
send an e-mail to Users that they have access to via the User Information
page.
~ Log On Name* (no longer than 20 characters in length}
~ Last Name*
~ Salutation
~ Fax
~ Middle Initial
~ Audio Notification (checkbox)
~ Mail Notification (checkbox)
~ Pager Notification (checkbox)
*Indicates mandatory fields
USER ROLES
In the User Roles table, the following roles are given:
~ The Company/Account designates The Wood Products System to indicate that
this is a
The Wood Products System User.
~ Admin
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~ Manage Credit
~ Trader (not applicable to a The Wood Products System User)
~ Supervisor (not applicable to a The Wood Products System User)
~ Accountant
~ Freight Book
~ Reports
~ The Wood Products System Trends
The Wood Products System Administrator must select the appropriate roles
for the new The Wood Products SystemTM User, and click inside the checkbox to
choose the roles. If the new User is assigned either the Wood Products System
Administrator or Credit Manager roles, the Master Key must be entered into the
appropriate field.
If the Wood Products System Administrator tries to submit the form without
selecting a value in one of the mandatory fields, an error message will
instruct them
of the field that is missing a value, and upon selecting oK, will be taken
directly to
the field, as shown, for example, in Figure 6P.
Once the information is complete, click the Add button, which takes the Wood
Products System Administrator to the User form. The new User can be updated
(by
entering the new information) or activated from by clicking the respective
buttons.
At any given time, clicking on a User name in the right frame will transfer
the
Wood Products System Administrator to that User's Information page, as shown
in
Figure 11 C.
If e-mail is entered, a yellow envelope will appear to the right of the e-mail
field.
By clicking on the envelope, an e-mail message can be sent to that User using
the form shown in Figure 11 D.
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User Status
At any given time, a Wood Products System User will fall under one of the
following four statuses (which are indicated next to the Wood Products System
User's name):
~ New-A User with (N) beside their name has not yet been activated by the Wood
Products System or Member Administrator
~ Active-A User with no status reference beside their name is an active User
on The
Wood Products System
~ Locked-A User with (t_) beside their name has entered an incorrect password
at least 3
times, and is considered locked out of The Wood Products System. The Wood
Products
System or Member Administrator has to reset the User's password in order for
the User
to regain access to The Wood Products System
~ Suspended-A User with (S) beside their name has been temporarily suspended
from
accessing The Wood Products System
~ Deleted-The name of a User who has been deactivated, or deleted form The
Wood
Products System will not appear in the list of User names. However, the Wood
Products
System Administrator will have a record of the User's activities
Suspending and Deleting a The Wood Products System User
In the left frame of the Wood Products System Administration page, choose
the User that will be suspended. Once the User page is displayed, click on the
Suspend button, which will bring up a Suspend User page, as shown in Figure 11
E.
This page displays an input text box where the Wood Products System
Administrator
must enter the reason for suspending the User. After a reason is entered,
click on
either the confirm or the cancel button.
If no reason is given, an error message will be displayed to inform the Wood
Products System Administrator that a reason must be given.
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If suspended, a User will then appear with an (sl beside their name, and the
User page now has a Delete button rather than a Suspend button, as shown in
Figure
11 F. Also under the buttons appears the reason why the User has been
suspended.
Users who have been suspended for twenty-four hours may be deleted from
the system. if there is an attempt to delete a User before this time, an error
message
will appear, as shown in Figure 11 G.
The deletion process is the same as the suspension process. Once deleted, a
User can no longer access the system, but all historical information created
by the
User will remain in the system and can be viewed by the Wood Products System
Administrator in an Audit Report.
Resetting a The Wood Products System User Password
To reset a The Wood Products System User password, the Wood Products
System Administrator must only click on the Reset Password button on the Wood
Products System User page. This resets the User's password to his or her Log
On
name, and as soon as they Log On they will be presented with the Password
Expired
page. The User must create a new password in order to be allowed access to the
system.
Suspending and Deleting a Company, Account or Company User
Choose the Company, Account or Company User that is to be suspended
from the alphabet chart under Administration. Then follow the instructions
given in
Suspending and Deleting a Wood Products System User on page 191.
Resetting a Company User's Password
To reset a Company User's password, the Wood Products System
Administrator must only click on the Reset Password button on the Company User
page. This resets the User's password to his or her Log On name, and as soon
as
they Log On they will be presented with the Password Expired page. The User
must
create a new password in order to be allowed access to the system.
Accessing an Existing Company
There are two areas of The Wood Products System that allow those Users
with operations roles on the system to access and view Company information.
Non-
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confidential and confidential information can be viewed via the Administration
area,
while non-confidential information can be viewed via the Members Directory
area.
SELECT A COMPANY FROM ADMINISTRATION
From the Administration page, click the Go To company gist button and then
select a letter of the alphabet in which the Company name begins. This will
display
all Companies beginning with this letter. The letter S display is shown in
Figure
11 H.
If the Short Name of a Company is selected, the Company page will appear
where all of the Company's information can be accessed and/or changed.
1 O SELECT A COMPANY FROM THE MEMBERS DIRECTORY
In this area, Company information can only be viewed and not changed. To
reach this area, click on oirectory on the Top Navigation Bar, and Member
directory
in the Lower Navigation Bar. Choose a letter in the Alphabet Chart, and then
choose
the appropriate Company. This will display a static company page, where the
Company information can be viewed.
NEW COMPANIES, ACCOUNTS, & MEMBER USERS
Creating a New Company
At the Administration page, click the Go To Company fist button, then the
Create
New company button below the Alphabet Chart, and a New Company page will be
displayed, as shown in Figure 1 lI.
The page is divided into two areas:
MAIN INFO
~ Short Name*
~ Legal Name*
ADDRESSES
~ Location
~ Address*
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~ City*
~ State*
Zip*
~ Telephone*
S ~ Fax
~ E-mail
~ Mailing/Billing (repeat of above Location fields)
*Indicates mandatory fields
If the Location Address is the same as the Mailing/Billing Address, there is
an option to copy and paste the information from one section into the other.
Just
click on copy from this section, and then click on Paste to this section in
the appropriate
areas.
1 Copy from this section
1 Paste to this section
When all mandatory information has been entered, click the Add button to add
this company to The Wood Products System. If a mandatory field has been left
empty, a message indicating which field must be filled in appears, as for
example
shown in Figure 6P.
The new information will appear on the Company page, with a series of
buttons: update, Profile, and Activate as shown in Figure 11J. The Company
name
appears in the left frame of the page, with the status (NI for New beside it.
The Credit area appears in the third frame to the right of the Company page.
The Wood Products System Credit Manager will be able to access this company
record to assign its Credit information by clicking on the Add button under
Credit.
Once the information is entered it will appear in the area below Credit, as
shown in
Figure 11 K.
The Contacts area appears below the Credit area. The Wood Products
System Administrator or the Member Administrator may now add Contacts for the
company by clicking on New under Contacts. Contacts is divided into two areas:
MAIN INFO
~ Main
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~ Direct Contact Details
~ Assistant
ADDRESSES
~ Location
S ~ MailingBilling
~ Shipping
In order to add a new Contact, click on the Add button on the bottom of the
Contacts Page. The Contacts' First name, Last name and Title/Position will
appear
under Contacts on the Company page. Each of these categories has subfields in
them, which are displayed in Figure 11 L and 11 M.
The Contact can then be accessed by clicking on the Contact's name. The
Company Profile page appears with two new buttons on the bottom of the page
for
either updating or deleting the Contact's information.
Creating a Company Profile
Company Profile is not mandatory for any Member to provide on The Wood
Products System. Profile information can be provided for every level of a
Company.
To create a Profile page, go to the appropriate Company page in
Administration.
Select Profile at the bottom of the page, and the company Profile page will
appear, as
shown in Figure 11N.
Once the information has been entered, the Company Profile can be viewed
by Members and the Wood Products System Administrator in the Members
Directory, or by The Wood Products System Administrators in Administration.
Figure 11 O is an example of Sierra Pacific Lumber Industries' Company
Profile.
Creating a New Subsidiary Company
On the Company page, click on the New button directly under the Related
Companies category. A New Company page will appear that is identical to the
page
that appeared when a New Company was added. See creating a New company.
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Click on the Add button and the new Subsidiary Company will appear in the
left frame, below the Parent Company with an (N) next to its name, as shown in
Figure 11 P.
The Credit information, Profile and Contacts can be entered in the same way
as the Company information was entered.
Creating a New Selling Account
Member Sellers must have at least one Selling Account to create an Offer on
The Wood Products System.
On the Company page under Administration, click on the NEw button under
Selling Accounts. The New Selling Account information page will then appear,
where all the relevant information must be entered, as shown in Figure 11 Q.
The information form is divided into 3 areas, each with subheadings:
~ Main Info
1 S ~ General
~ Selling Account Name*
~ GST#-required for all Canadian mills
~ QST#-required for all Mills in Quebec
~ HST#-required for all Mills in the Maritimes
~ Charges
~ Lumber Bar Coding-Canadian and US charges/load
~ Panel Bar Coding-Canadian and US charges/load
~ Lumber Tarpfing--Canadian and US charges/load
~ Panel Tarpfing--Canadian and US charges/load
~ Transaction Fee Rate*-entered by the Wood Products System Credit Manager
~ Other
~ Trade Lumber-Tick the checkbox if Selling Account wishes to trade lumber
~ Trade Panel---click the checkbox if Selling Account wishes to trade panel
~ Payment Terms the Seller payments terms is 1% 15 or Net 30.
~ Addresses
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~ Location
~ Address*
Cih'*
~ State*
~ Zip*
~ Telephone*
~ Fax
~ E-mail
~ MailingBilling-same fields as Location
~ Bank Info
~ US Bank Info
~ Bank Name
~ Bank #
~ Transit #
~ Account #
~ US Bank Address
~ Street
~ City
~ State
~ Zip
~ Telephone
~ Fax
~ E-mail
~ Contact Name
~ Contact Telephone
~ Canadian Bank Info-same fields as US Bank Info and Address
*Indicates mandatory fields
Once all the information has been entered, as shown in Figure 11 R, click on
the Add button to include the Selling Account in The Wood Products System. If
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there are any empty mandatory fields, a message box will appear and show the
empty
field.
The Selling Account will then appear on the Selling Account page with an (N)
for New beside its name.
By clicking the Activate button at the bottom of the page, the Selling Account
will no longer have the (N) next to its name, and it will be activated. Also
the buttons
at the bottom of the page will change to update, Profi~e and suspend.
The Wood Products System Administrator may now do any or all of the
following:
~ Change any of the Account information (with the exception of the Transaction
Fee Rate)
and click the Update button.
~ Create a Profile for the Selling Account by selecting the Profile button at
the bottom of
the page.
~ Create Contacts for the Selling Account by selecting the NEW button under
Contacts to
the right.
~ Note: The Member Administrator for this Company can do any of the above.
To select an existing Selling Account, click on the Account name under
Selling Accounts in the left frame of the page.
Creating a New Buying Account
Member Buyers must have at least one Buying Account to create a Bid on
The Wood Products System.
On the Company page, click on the NEw button under Buying Accounts. The
New Buying Account information page will then appear, where all the relevant
information must be entered.
The information form is divided into 3 areas, each with subheadings:
~ Main Info
~ General
~ Selling Account Name*
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~ GST#-required for all Canadian mills
~ QST#-required for all Mills in Quebec
~ HST#-required for all Mills in the Maritimes
~ Hub Info
~ Major Hub*
~ Minor Hub*
~ Rail Carrier*
~ Siding/Spur
~ Credit (entered by the The Wood Products System Credit Manager)
~ Source
~ Credit Limit
~ Credit Used
~ Transaction Fee (entered by the The Wood Products System Credit Manager)
~ Rate*
~ Tax I-Select appropriate Tax names that must be applied to the fee on the
invoice
~ Tax 2-Select appropriate Tax names that must be applied to the fee on the
invoice
~ Tax 3-Select appropriate Tax names that must be applied to the fee on the
invoice
~ Other
~ Trade Lumber--Click the checkbox if Buying Account wishes to trade lumber
~ Trade Panel-Click the checkbox if Buying Account wishes to trade panel
~ Payment Terms- The Buyer Payments Terms are I % I 0, Net 30, or any other
terms set up by The Wood Products System Administrator
~ Payment Process-ACH, EFT, or Wire
~ Addresses
~ Location
~ Address*
~ City*
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~ State*
~ Zip*
~ Telephone*
~ Fax
~ E-mail
~ MailingBilling-same fields as Location
~ Shipping-same fields as Location
~ Bank Info
~ US Bank Info
~ Bank Name
~ Bank #
~ Transit #
~ Account #
~ US Bank Address
~ Street
~ City
~ State
~ Zip
~ Telephone
~ Fax
~ E-mail
~ Contact Name
~ Contact Telephone
~ Canadian Bank Info-same fields as US Bank Info and Address
*Indicates mandatory fields
Once all the information has been entered, click on the Add button to include
the Selling Account in The Wood Products System. If there are any empty
mandatory fields, a message box will appear and show the empty field. For
example:
The Buying Account will then appear on the Buying Account page, as shown
in Figure 11 S, with an (N) for New beside its name.
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By clicking the Activate button at the bottom of the page, the Selling Account
will no longer have the (N) next to its name, and it will be activated. Also
the buttons
at the bottom of the page will change to update, Profi~e and suspend.
The Wood Products System Administrator may now do any or alI of the
following:
~ Change any of the Account information (with the exception of Credit Limit,
Credit
Source, and Transaction Fee Rates) and click the Update button.
~ Create a Profile for the Buying Account by selecting the Profile button at
the bottom of
the page.
~ Create Contacts for the Buying Account by selecting the NEW button under
Contacts to
the right.
~ Note: The Member Administrator for this Company may do any of the above.
To select an existing Buying Account, click on the Account name under
Buying Accounts in the left frame of the page.
Creating Member Company Users
Select an existing Company name to display the Company page. Click the
New button under Company Users, and the New User page will appear, as shown in
Figure 11 T.
This page is divided into two areas:
~ Personal
~ First Name*
~ Title
~ Telephone*
~ E-mail-If e-mail address is entered, The Wood Products System Operations
Users
or Member Administrator can send an e-mail to TJsers that they have access to
via
the User information page.
~ Log On Name*
~ Last Name*
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~ Salutation
~ Fax
~ Middle Initial
~ Audio Notification (checkbox)
~ Mail Notification (checkbox)
~ Pager Notification (checkbox)
*Indicates mandatory fields
~ User Roles (mark appropriate checkboxes)
~ The Company/Account(s) options are provided
~ Admin
~ Manage Credit
~ Trader
~ Supervisor
~ Accountant
~ Freight Book
~ Reports
~ The Wood Products System Trends
Once information has been entered, click the Add button to include the User
in The Wood Products System. If there is an empty f eId, a message box will
appear,
and indicate which field must be filled in.
When the information is properly entered. the User name will appear on the
bottom of the left frame under Company Users, as shown in Figure 1 I U. The
name
will have an (N) next to it until the Company User is activated.
In order to activate a new Company User, click on the Company User name,
and when the User page appears click the Activate button at the bottom of the
page.
Once activated, the new buttons that appear at the bottom of the page are
update,
Suspend, atld Reset Password.
If e-mail is entered, a yellow envelope will appear to the right of the e-mail
field.
By clicking on the envelope, an e-mail message can be sent to that User,
using the form shown in Figure 1 I D, for example.
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CANCELING SALES CONTRACTS
The Wood Products System Administrator is the only one who is capable of
canceling a Sales Contract. Under operations, choose Cancel SCs on the Lower
Navigation Bar to display the Cancel SCs page, as shown in Figure 11 V.
To view Sales Contracts to cancel, select the appropriate Company and
Account, and click the Refresh button to get a page such as that shown in
Figure
11 W.
Below the Refresh button, all Sales Contracts for which the company is either
the Buyer or the Seller will be displayed. In order to cancel a SC, click on
the
checkbox next to the SC #, and then click on the (x) at the top of the column.
As soon as this is done, a page is displayed requesting the reason for the
cancellation, shown in Figure 11X. After the reason is entered, click the
confirm
button to Cancel the Sales Contract.
The User can view the Cancelled Sales Contract by clicking on the SC # on
the left side of the table.
When a User views a Cancelled Sales Contract, it will have a CNCL in the
Status column, which indicates that it has been cancelled. Also the word
cancened is
displayed in red at the top of each Cancelled Sales Contract, and the
Cancellation
Reason will appear at the bottom of the Cancelled Sales Contract.
THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM SETTINGS
The Wood Products System Administrator is responsible for setting certain
System Parameters and Defaults. Selecting operations on the Top Navigation
Bar,
and The Wood Products System Settings on the Lower Navigation Bar accesses
them.
The Wood Products System Settings area is divided into three sections:
General, Security, and Trading.
The System Settings in the General area are shown in Figure 12A and
include:
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Canadian Exchange Rate - The Canadian Currency Exchange Rate will be input
daily.
Numbers must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to I 0. and may use up
to 4
decimal places. You cannot enter negative numbers. 0, symbols, or text.
Monitor Refresh Interval - The Monitor Offers page at the Setter Member area
of The Wood
Products System and the Monitor Bids page at the Buyer Member area need to be
refreshed often to relay current trading information. The interval must be
greater than or
equal to 30 seconds. You cannot enter numbers greater than 43.200 seconds ( 12
hours).
You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.
The Wood Products System Trends Refresh Interval-The interval must be greater
than or
equal to 30 seconds. You cannot enter numbers greater than 43,200 seconds (12
hours).
You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.
Session Timeout (Minutes)-This time setting determines the length of time, in
minutes, a
The Wood Products System or Company User may be logged onto the Wood Products
System without performing an activity. If a User does not perform an action
within this
1 S timeframe, they will be logged off. The interval must be greater than 0.
You cannot enter
numbers greater than 1440 minutes (24 hours). You cannot enter negative
numbers, 0,
symbols, text, or decimals.
The System Settings in the Security area are shown in Figure 12B and
include:
~ Password Expiry-The Wood Products System Administrator will set the number
of days
until all The Wood Products System Users' passwords will expire. After this
time, Users
will be presented with the Password Expired page, where they must select new
passwords. The amount entered must be less than 365 days. You cannot enter
negative
numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.
~ Password Minimum Length-The password minimum length must be more than 3
characters and less than 20 characters. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0,
symbols,
text, or decimals.
~ Password Maximum Length-The password maximum length must be more than 20
characters and less than 40 characters. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0,
symbols,
text, or decimals.
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~ t_ogin Fail Tolerance-This setting determines how many times Users may log
on to The
Wood Products System with an incorrect password before they will be locked
out. Once
locked out, they must call the Wood Products System Administrator or their
Member
Administrator to unlock and reactivate them. This number must be greater than
0 and
less than 1,000. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or
decimals.
~ Suspension Period Before Deletion (Hours)-This time setting determines how
long, in
hours, a Company, Account, or User must be suspended before they may be
deleted from
The Wood Products System. This number must be equal to or greater than 24
hours. It
must be less than 8,760 hours (365 days). You cannot enter negative numbers,
0,
symbols, text, or decimals.
The System Settings in the Trading area are shown in Figure 12C and
include:
~ Bid Expiry Time-A Buying Trader's Bids against a Selling Trader's Offers
will expire
after this amount of time. This setting must be greater than 0, and less than
1,440
minutes (24 hours). You cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols, text, or
decimals.
~ Offer Expiry Days-A Selling Trader's Offer will expire after this amount of
time. This
setting must be greater than 0 and less than 365 days. You cannot enter
negative
numbers, 0, symbols, text, or decimals.
~ Start Trading Hour-The hour that trading commences on The Wood Products
System in
the Chicago time zone. You may not enter a number less than 0:00 or greater
than 24:00
(hours). You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be less than
:60. You
cannot enter negative numbers, symbols, text, or decimals.
~ End Trading Hour-the hour that trading ceases on The Wood Products System in
the
Chicago time zone. After this time, and before the Start Closing Hour',
Members may
access The Wood Products System to generate and view reports. You may not
enter a
number less than 0:00 or greater than 24:00. You may enter hours and minutes,
but the
minutes must be less than :60. You cannot enter negative numbers, symbols,
text, or
decimals.
~ Start Closing Hour-The Wood Products System will stop all Member activities
at this
time by logging them off the system. The Wood Products System closing will not
affect
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the security or integrity of a transaction. You may not enter a number less
than 0:00 or
greater than 24:00. You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be
less than
:60. You cannot enter negative numbers. symbols, text. or decimals.
~ End Closing Hour-The Wood Products System will begin Member activities,
except
trading. at this time. You may not enter a number less than 0:00 or greater
than 24:00.
You may enter hours and minutes, but the minutes must be less than :60. You
cannot
enter negative numbers, symbols, text, or decimals.
~ Minimum Bid (Fraction of FOB Destination) (%)-a Buying Trader must input a
Bid that is this
percentage of the FOB Destination Price for an Offer. This number must be
greater than
0 and less than or equal to 100. You cannot enter negative numbers, 0.
symbols, or text.
You may enter a number up to 2 decimal places.
~ Acceptable Footage Variance (%)-the actual shipping board footage or square
footage that
a Seller Account inputs on an Invoice must not vary by this percentage from
that of the
original Offer. This number must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to
100. You
i 5 cannot enter negative numbers, 0, symbols. or text. You may enter a number
up to 2
decimal places.
~ Stop Trading-the The Wood Products System Administrator may need to Stop
Trading
activities on the system in an emergency situation. The Stop Trading button
would be
clicked to stop trading on The Wood Products System.
The third column in each of these three areas is the Last Changed column.
This lets the Wood Products System Administrator know when a particular System
Setting was last changed.
The Wood Products System Administrator may change these settings as often
as desired. A System Audit Report will be generated which reports all System
2~ Setting changes that have occurred over a specified amount of time.
Any settings changed by the Administrator will be implemented immediately
on the System.
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HOLIDAY SETTINGS
The Wood Products System Administrator is responsible for telling The
Wood Products System what days are not available for trading. To access this,
go to
Holidays on the Lower Navigation Bar, under the operations tab. When this
options
chosen. a calendar for the current year is displayed as shown in Figure 12D.
To update holidays for another year, use the arrow keys at the top of the page
on either side of the current year to move forward or backward.
To mark a day as a non-trading day, simply click on the day on the calendar,
then click the update button at the bottom of the page. An input text box will
appear,
as shown in Figure 12E, requiring a reason for the update, and the Master Key
Code.
When the reason and Master Key has been entered click confirm to complete
the process.
All holidays are shown by the fact that they appear in red. By default, The
Wood Products System sets every Saturday and Sunday as non-trading days.
IMPORT FREIGHT BOOK
Once a Member Company has uploaded a Freight Book into The Wood
Products System, the Wood Products System Administrator can then import the
Freight Book. LJnder operations, select Import Freight Book on the Lower
Navigation Bar.
A table will be displayed, Iike that shown in Figure 12F, that contains the
following
information:
~ Uploaded By-name of the person who uploaded the Freight Book
~ Filename
~ Size-size of the file
2~ ~ Date-date file was uploaded
~ Import
~ Delete
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To delete a file from The Wood Products System. click on the ~xl under the
Delete column in the appropriate row. A message box will then appear asking
for
verification of the deletion, as shown in Figure 12G. Click olt to delete. or
cancel to
return to the Import Freight Book page.
To import the Freight Book, click on the checkmark under the Import column
in the appropriate row. A message box will then appear asking for verification
of the
import, as shown in Figure 12H. Click olt to import, or cancel to return to
the Import
Freight Book page.
Once OK is clicked, The Wood Products System will begin importing the
file. When the file is completely imported, the Import Confirmation page is
displayed, shown in Figure 12I. This page confirms the successful import of
the file
to The Wood Products System.
MAJOR AND MINOR HUBS
View Major/Minor Hubs
To view Major/Minor Hubs, select Major/Minor Hubs on the Lower
Navigation Bar under operations.
Then select the letter of the alphabet that the Major Hubs' name begins with.
This will display a list of all Major Hubs beginning with that letter, as
shown for the
letter H in Figure 12J. The columns that are presented are the Name of the
Major
Hub and the State. In any Hubs listings, US States are listed first followed
by
Canadian Provinces.
By selecting the name of a Major Hub, a new alphabet chart will be displayed
that shows the associated Minor Hubs. At this point, the Major Hub can be
edited
and updated, as shown in Figure 12K, by making the changes and selecting
update.
By selecting the letter of a Minor Hub, a list of all Minor Hubs beginning
with that letter will appear with its Name and State. Clicking on the name of
a Minor
Hub will display that Minor Hub, which can also be edited and updated, as
shown in
Figure 12L.
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Creating New Major Hubs
Select Major/Minor Hubs on the Lower Navigation Bar. and click on the
create New Major Hub button. The Major Hubs page is displayed. with the Major
Hub
State drop-down list, and a Major Hub Name input text box, as shown in Figure
12M. Input the new Major Hub name and State, then click on the Add button. The
new Major Hub will be added to the Wood Products System Master Freight Book
Database.
Creating New Minor Hubs
Follow the View Major/Minor Hubs process so that the page in Figure 12N is
available:
Select the create New Minor Hub button to display a page that has a Minor Hub
State drop-down list, and an input box for the new Minor Hub name, as shown in
Figure 120. Input the new State and name, and then click the Add button. The
new
Minor Hub will be added to the Wood Products System Master Freight Book
1 S Database.
PAYMENTS
Selecting operations in the Top Navigation Bar and Payments in the Lower
Navigation Bar will display all active invoices in The Wood Products System.
The
Payments page, such as shown in Figure 12P, allows the Wood Products System
Administrator to update the active invoices. either to select the Paid or
Written off
columns in the appropriate rows.
At the Payments page, a table will be displayed with the following
information:
~ Invoice #
2~ ~ Buver Account Name
~ Amount-amount of the invoice
~ Currency-$US or $CDN
~ Paid-if the invoice has been paid
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~ Written Off-if the invoice has been written off
if the Buyer has paid the invoice. click on the c~eckbox in the Paid column.
Then click on the update button at the bottom of the page to update The Wood
Products System. The updated invoice will be immediately removed from the
Payments page, and the Buyer's Credit will be credited by the amount of the
invoice.
If the invoice has been written off, click on the checkbox in the Written Off
column. Then click on the update button at the bottom of the page to update
The
Wood Products System. The updated invoice will be immediately removed from the
Payments page, and the Buyer's Credit will be credited by the amount of the
invoice.
REPORTS
Buying Reports
Buying Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to view
historical information for all Bids, Sales Contracts, and Invoices related to
transactions created by a Member Company on The Wood Products System.
The Buying Reports area of the Web site allows the Wood Products System
Administrator to select a Company. a Buying Account (or all Accounts). and a
date
range, from and to, for each specific type of report. Bids, Buying Sales
Contracts,
Credit Usage. Buying Invoices. Credit Notes, Unpaid Buying Invoices, and
Written
Off Buying Invoices categorize the types of reports available to the The Wood
Products System Administrator.
Selecting a Report Type then clicking the Refresh button will generate the
requested report in the right frame of the page.
The ~own~oad button allows the Buyer to save the Invoice information (see
Downloading instructions on page 90).
Written Off Buying Invoices is the only type of report that has not been
described under Buying Reports.
YVRITTEN OFF BUY1NG INVOICES REPORTS
Written Off Buying Invoices Reports provide the Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information. as shown in Figure I2Q.
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~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the date ran~~e are
displayed.
~ In a table displayed below that. the following information can be viewed:
~ Date Issued
~ Invoice #: Clicking on the Invoice # opens a second browser window with the
selected Invoice page
~ Seller Name
~ Product Information: Size (for Lumber: Thickness x Width x Length. For
Panel:
Thickness x Size), Species, and Grade
~ BF/SF: Board Footage or Square Footage quantities
~ FOB Destination Price (This is the price submitted on the Bid by the Buying
Trader)
Total Price (FOB Mill Price x (BF or SF divided by 1000))
~ Total CDN Price (ifapplicable)
~ The Trader name associated with the invoice
~ The Invoice Status: written off
A Total Price and Grand Total Price are displayed at the bottom of the table.
By selecting one of the column headings, the Wood Products System
Administrator is able to sort the table by the information contained in that
column.
Selling Reports
Selling Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to view
historical information for all Offers, Sales Contracts. and Invoices related m
transactions created by a Member Company on The Wood Products System.
The Selling Reports area of the Web site, as shown in Figure 12R, allows the
Wood Products System Administrator to select a Company, a Selling Account (or
all
Accounts). and a date range, from and to. for each specific type of report.
The types
2~ of reports available to Selling Members are categorized by Offers, Selling
SCs,
Selling invoices, and Cancelled Invoices.
Selecting a Report Type then clicking the Refresh button will generate the
requested report in the right frame of the page.
The ~own~oad button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save
the Report information (see Downloading instructions on page 90).
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The four types of Selling Reports are described under seeing Reports on page
94.
Freight Book Reports
Freight Book Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to
generate a report of each Member's Freight Rate editing history.
Under Reports on the Top Navigation Bar, select Freight Book Reports, and
the Freight Book Reports page will appear, as shown in Figure 12S.
The Freight Book Reports area of the Web site allows the Wood Products
System Administrator to select a Company, a Selling Account (or all Accounts),
and
a date range. from and to, for each report.
Clicking the Refresh button will generate the requested report in the right
frame of the page. as shown in Figure 12T.
The ~owntoad button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save
the Report information.
~ At the top of the report, the selected Account Name, and the date range are
displayed.
~ 1n a table displayed below that, the following information can be viewed:
~ Major Hub
~ Minor Hub-associated Minor Hubs
~ State/Province
~ Transportation Mode
~ Rail Carrier
~ Price
~ Price CDN
~ Date of the Update
~ Freight Book Editor
The column headings of an Online Freight Charges Report may not be
clicked to sort the data by category.
Audit Reports
Audit Reports will allow the Wood Products System Administrator to
generate reports on the following topics:
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~ System Access History
~ Password Changes
~ Membership Permission Changes
~ System Settings Changes
~ Holiday Changes
~ Membership File Changes
~ Reconciliation
~ Transaction History
~ Credit Limit Changes
I O ~ Over Credit
~ Invoice Quantity Variance
Under Reports on the Top Navigation Bar. select Audit Reports. and the
Audit Reports page will appear. as shown in Figure 12U.
The Audit Reports area of the Web site allows the Wood Products System
I ~ Administrator to select a date range, from and to, for each report.
Selecting an Audit Type. and then clicking the Refresh button will generate
the requested report in the right frame of the page.
The oown~oad button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save
the Report information (see Downloading instructions on page 90).
20 By selecting one of the column headings in any of the reports, the Wood
Products System Administrator is able to sort the table by the information
contained
in that column.
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ACCESS HISTORY REPORT
The Access History Report provides tile Wood Products Svstem
Administrator with the following information. as shown in Figure 12V.
User Name
~ User's Company Name
~ Date/Time the transaction occurred
~ Transaction Type -- Logged On, Logged Out, Failed to Log ON, or
Logged Out by the System
PASSWORD CHANGES REPORT
The Password Changes Report provides the Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information. as shown in Figure l2Vf.
~ Changed By-who made the password change
~ Company Name-Company of person who made change
~ Affected User-whose password has been changed
1 ~ ~ User's Company Name
~ Transaction Date & Time-date and time the password change was made
~ Transaction Type-Reset Password. or Password Changed
PERMISSION CHANGES REPORT
The Permission Changes Report provides the Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12X.
~ Changed By-either a Member Administrator or The Wood Products System
Administrator
~ Company Name-Company of person who made change
~ Date/Time the permission chan_e was made
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~ Transaction Type-Which User Role or Permission was Granted or Revoked to a
The
Wood Products Svstem or Company User
~ Affected User-The V1~'ood Products System or Member User who was assigned or
had
removed the User Role or Permission
~ Affected User's Company Name
SYSTEM SETTINGS CHANGES REPORT
The Settings Changes Report provides a Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 12Y.
~ Changed By-this person will always have the Wood Products System
Administrator
role
~ Date/Time that the setting was changed
~ The actual System Setting changed
~ Changed From-what the System Setting was changed from
~ Changed To-what the System Setting was changed to
1 > HOLIDAY GHANGES REPORT
The Holiday Changes Report provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information. as shown in Figure 13A.
~ Changed By-this will always be the name of a The Wood Products System
Administrator
~ DatelTime-when the Holiday was added or deleted
~ Day Changed-the holiday date that was added or deleted
~ Transaction Type-they are: Holiday Added. Holiday Deleted. Weekend Trading
Day
Added, and Weekend Trading Day Deleted
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MEMBERSHIP FILE CHANGES REPORT
The Membership File Changes Report provides a The Wood Products
System Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13B.
~ Chan~_ed By-this person will always have the Wood Products System
Administrator
role
~ Account or User- name of the Member whose file was changed. This could be an
Account or a User
~ Company Name-company that has been accessed to make an update
~ Date/Time that the file was changed
~ Changed From- what the Member File was changed from
~ Changed To-what the Member File was changed to
~ Transaction Type-type of change made to the Member File
RECONCILIATION REPORT
The Reconciliation Report provides a daily total of all Invoices created by
The Wood Products System and sent over to the Commercial Accounting System, as
shown in Figure 13C. The Commercial Accounting will create their own
Reconciliation Report. and manually check that the two reports are the same,
ensuring that the data they received is intact.
The information is grouped by currency, and is displayed in the following
groupings:
~ Cost of Goods and Charges
~ Transaction Fee
~ Transaction Fee Taxes, broken down by jurisdiction (state or province)
The Gross Total. Discount, and NET TOTAL amounts are calculated at the
2~ bottom of the Report.
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TRANSACTION HISTORY REPORT
The Transaction History Report provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13D.
~ Date & Time of the transaction
~ #-Offer #, Bid #, Sales Contract #, or Invoice
~ Transaction Type-The states of a transaction that are tracked, the order in
which they
will happen, and the Web page they are linked to include:
Transaction State... is Linked to
...
Offer created Offer details
Offer cancelled
Offer expired
Bid submitted Bid details
Bid accepted Accepted Bid details
SC created Selling SC
Bid expired
Bid cancelled
Buyer viewed SC Buying SC
Change Request Buying SC with original destination
submitted and new destination amounts
Seller viewed Selling SC with original destination
SC* and new destination amounts
Change Request Selling SC with original destination
accepted and new destination amounts
Buyer viewed SC Amended Buying SC with new destination
amounts
Change Request Selling SC with original destination
rejected and new destination amounts
Buyer viewed SC' Original Buying 5C
Sales Contract Cancelled Selling SC
cancelled
Cancelled SC viewedCancelled Selline SC
by
Seller
Seller Invoice Selling Invoice
created
Buyer Invoice Buying Invoice
created
Invoice cancelledCancelled Selline Invoice
Cancelled InvoiceCancelled Selling Invoice
viewed by
Seller
Credit Note createdCredit Note
Credit Note viewedCredit Note
by Buyer
Invoice paid Buying Invoice
Invoice written Buying Invoice
off 1
°wo~e: Ir a seller opens a Lnange ttequest and does not Accept or
ke~ect it.
the status will be reported as ''Seller viewed SC'~.
~ Account Name
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~ User Name
~ Company Name
In the left frame of the page, there is an input text box below Transaction
Flistory Report.
To view the Transaction History of a specific transaction. enter an Offer #,
Bid #. Sales Contract #, or Invoice #, and click Refresh. The Transaction
History will
appear in the right frame of the page. as shown in Figure 13E.
CREDIT LIMIT CHANGES REPORT
The Credit Limit Changes Report provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information. as shown in Figure 13F.
~ Changed By-who changed the Credit Limit
~ Date/Time the Credit Limit changes were made
~ Credit Source-Company name
~ Shared--credit shared (yes/no)
~ Account Name
~ Credit Limit
~ Transaction Type-Change Credit Source, Change Credit Sharing, Updated Credit
Limit,
Updated Account Credit Limit, and Credit Added
A change in Credit information is identified in the table by bold letters.
OVER LIMlT CREDIT REPORTS
The Over Limit Credit Report provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13G.
~ User Name-Buying Trader for the associated transaction
~ User's Company Name
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~ Date/Time Company went over Available Credit
~ Account Credit Source
~ Account Credit Limit
~ Credit Used By Account
~ Amount Over
~ Invoice #
INVOICE QUANTITY VARIANCE REPORT
The Invoice Quantity Variance Report provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information, as shown in Figure 13H.
~ User Name
~ Company Name
~ Buy Account Name
~ Date/Time
~ Invoice #
~ Offered Quantity (BF/SF)
~ Delivered Quantity (BF/SF)
~ Percent Difference
~ Transaction Type-thev are: Footage less than allowable variance, and Footage
more
than allowable variance.
THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS
The Wood Products System Trends is divided into three areas:
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~ Regions
~ Templates
~ Market Data
Onlv a The Wood Products System Administrator is permitted to assign the
Wood Products System Trends permission to a Member
Regions
CREATING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGIONS
A The Wood Products System Administrator will create Regions for The
Wood Products System Members to use to generate market data.
Click on trends in the Top Navigation Bar, and Regions in the Lower
Navigation Bar. to get to the Regions page, as shown in Figure 13I.
If there are any Regions already created, they will appear listed in the Left
frame of the page.
To create a new Region, click on the New button in the top of the left frame.
A page is displayed to the right, with the following information, as shown in
figure
13 J.
~ Name input text box-for the naming of new Regions or changing the names of
existing
regions
~ Other Hubs-lists al) Major Hubs in the The Wood Products System Freight Book
Database, minus those in other Regions
~ Region Hubs-The Wood Products System Administrator will move selected Major
Hubs from the Other Hubs area to the Region Hubs area using the double arrow
button
(») to create a new Region
To add a new Region, enter the Region into the Name input text box, and
then move the appropriate Major Hubs from Other Hubs into the Region Hubs
column. as shown in Figure 13K.
When a Region is complete, click the Add button. The new Region appears
highlighted in the Regions list in the left frame, and an update and Delete
button will
appear at the bottom of the page, as shown in Figure 13L.
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VIEWING AN EXISTING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGION
To view an existing Region. click on the appropriate region in the left frame.
and it will be displayed on the right. as shown in Figure 13M. It can then be
updated
or deleted.
DELETING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGIONS
Select the Regions name form the list of Regions in the left frame to display
its listings to the right. Select the ~e~ete button, and the message box shown
in Figure
13N will appear to allow confirmation for the deletion.
Click on oK to delete the Region. or click on cancer to return to the Regions
page.
When the Region is deleted, it is removed from all templates that refer to it.
The User will then be informed via a Notification that the Region has been
removed.
SPLITTING THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS REGIONS
If a Major Hub has been assigned to a Region, the Wood Products System
Administrator can move it into another Region, or into a new Region. In order
to
split Regions, the Major Hub must be removed from the current Region it is in,
and
assigned to another Region.
Select the appropriate Region in the left frame of the Regions page, and then
click the double arrow button («) to move the Region from the Region Hubs list
to the
Other Hubs list, as shown in Figure 130.
The Major Hub may now be assigned to an existing Region, or to a new
Region.
Templates
Click on the TrendsT~~ tab in the Top Navigation Bar, and the Templates item
in the Lower Navigation Bar to display the Templates main page.
Click on the NEW button under Templates in the left frame of the page, so that
a new template
will appear, as shown in Figure 13P.
Under the Region column heading in the right frame of the page, select the
region for which you want to generate market data. These Regions are those
created
by the Wood Products System Administrator.
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When a Region is selected, the default Template selections appear for each of
the categories. Figure 13Q illustrates the default selections for Lumber.
The categories and default Template selections for Lumber are:
~ Species
5 ~ Thickness ,
~ Width
~ Length - Feet
~ Length - Inches
~ Trim (Optional Checkbox)
1 0 ~ Moisture
~ Grade
~ Supplemental (Optional Checkbox)
Click on the Panel tab to display the Panel Template selections. Figure 13R
illustrates the default selections for Panel.
15 The categories and default Template selections for Panel are:
~ Species
~ Thickness
~ Size
~ Grade
20 ~ Profile
~ Supplemental (Optional Checkbox)
CREATING A TEMPLATE
To select the data for your Template, first click on the default values under
one of the column headings to display the drop-down selection list for that
category.
25 Select the item you want in each category. If you want to generate Market
Data with Trim and/or Supplemental categories as criteria, click in the check
boxes
provided.
Select the currency you want by clicking in either the US or CDN radio
buttons at the top of the page.
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Input the Name of your Template in the input text box beside Name at the top
of the page. Click the Add button at the bottom of the page. A message box
will
appear if there is any missing information. Select oK to transfer to the
appropriate
area to fill in the information.
The Template name will now appear highlighted in the left frame of the page,
as shown in Figure 135. The currency selected for the Template appears beside
the
name in brackets.
It is now possible to generate Market Data.
Market Data
The Data is grouped together based on Regions specified by the Wood
Products System Administrator (e.g. if a sale of lumber was made in Addison,
Illinois and Addison was part of Region named 'Chicago', then that sales
becomes
part of the Market Data displayed with 'Chicago')
The Market Data generated is determined by the amount of Panel and
Lumber products sold over The Wood Products System.
To generate Market Data:
Click on the Market Data item in the Lower Navigation Bar, or on the
Trends T~' item in the Bottom Navigation Bar at the bottom of the page. A new
Browser window will appear.
The Templates created will appear in a list to the left.
Select a Template name, and a Summary table is displayed in the middle of
the page. as shown in Figure 13T.
The information provided in the table includes:
~ Today's High, Low, and Average FOB Delivered Prices
~ The weighted MBF or MSF Volume sold for the product you have selected.
Clicking on the Template name in the summary table, under the Product
Details column heading, will display two graphs to the right, as shown in
Figure
13U.
At the top of the right frame, is:
~ Todav's date and time
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~ A drop-down selection list of time periods you may choose to generate Market
Data for:
~ Intraday (today, up until this minute)
~ 1 Week
~ 4 Weeks
~ 12 Weeks
~ 24 Weeks
~ 52 Weeks
~ The Average Close price.
Below this are two graphs:
~ A Trading Prices graph-graphing the product's total dollar value sold within
the select
time period, low to high. (The graph spread is determined by volume.)
~ A Trading Volume graph-graphing the product's total MBF or MSF sold within
the
select time period. This total is a weighted total. (The graph spread is
determined by
volume.)
Select another time period and click the rtefresh button to change the Market
Data that appears in the graphs.
The gradations of the graphs: Dollars x Time and Total MBF x Time, are
determined by the values generated during trading for the time you selected.
On the Trading Prices graph for the Intraday time period, you may double
click anywhere on the bar to generate a bubble with the minimum, maximum, and
average prices at a specific time of day.
On the Trading Volume graph, double-click on a colored volume bar to
generate a bubble with the specific volume information.
On the Trading Prices graph for the 1 Week time period, you may double
click on any point on the graph line to generate a bubble with the average
price at a
specific time of day.
On the Trading Volume graph for the same 1 Week period. double-click on a
colored volume bar to generate a bubble with the specific volume information.
To close the Market Data window, click the (x) in the top right corner of the
window.
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LISTINGS
The Wood Products System Administrator can view a complete list of
Member Companies or Accounts using Listings. From the Directory tab on the Top
Navigation Bar, select Listings on the Lower Navigation Bar. The Listings page
will
appear with a checkbox choice between Companies or Accounts, as shown in
Figure
13V.
Companies Listings
Select Companies, and then click the Refresh button to generate the requested
listings in the right frame of the page, with the current date at the top of
the page, a
shown in Figure 13W.
The Download button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save
the listings information.
You can sort by a column by clicking on the text in the heading.
The Companies Listings provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information:
Short Name of the Company
Company ID #
Location
~ Address
~ City
~ State
~ Zip
~ Telephone
~ Fax (if available)
~ Mailing/Billing-same fields as Location
~ Status-Active or Not Active
Accounts Listings
Select Accounts, and then click the Refresh button to generate the requested
listings in the right frame of the page, with the current date at the top of
the page, as
shown in Figure 13X. You can sort by a column by clicking on the text in the
heading.
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The ~own~oad button allows the Wood Products System Administrator to save
the listings information.
The Companies Listings provides a The Wood Products System
Administrator with the following information:
Name of the Account
Account ID #
Type-buying or selling account
Location
~ Address
~ City
~ State
~ Zip
~ Telephone
~ Fax (if available)
1 S ~ Mailing/Billing-same fields as Location
~ Shipping-same fields as Location
~ Status-Active or Not Active
HELP FOR THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
Help is available to the Wood Products System Administrator from the field
names on:
~ Create New The Wood Products System User
~ Create New Company
~ Create New Buying Account
~ Create New Selling Account
Create New The Wood Products System User Pop-Up Help
FIRST NAME
Input the first name of the current User.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
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TITLE
Input the title of the current User, such as "Freight Book Editor" or
"Trader".
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 20.
S TELEPHONE
Input the telephone number in any of the common telephone formats, such as
555-555-1212 or (S55) 555-1212. If there is an extension number, you may input
it
after the telephone number, such as "ext.254".
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.
E-MAIL
Input the e-mail address in the following format:
zhackett@lumbercompany.com.
E-mail addresses are not case-sensitive.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 100.
LOG ON NAME
Input the current User's Log On Name. This Log On Name is what a User
will input on the Log On Page to enter the Wood Products System system.
A User Log On Name must be unique on the system. There cannot be two
Users with the same Log On Name. If you input a Log On Name and get an error
message, it means that there is another Member on the system with that User
Name.
Select a new Log On Name.
Log On names are usually the first name of the User or the first initial and
last name of the user. Choose a Logoon Name that the User will remember
easily.
It is recommended that the same format be used for all Users at a Member
Company.
Log On names are not case-sensitive.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 20.
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LAST NAME
Input the current User's last name.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
SALUTATION
Input how the current User prefers to be addressed: Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms., M.,
Mme., or Mlle.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 5.
FAx
Input the fax number in any of the common formats, such as 555-555-1212 or
(555) 555-1212, for example.
This is a not mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.
MIDDLE INITIAL
Input the current User's middle initial.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 2.
AUDIO NOTIFICATION
Input the Audio Notification.
This is not a mandatory field.
MAIL NOTIFICATION
Input the Mail Notification.
This is not a mandatory field.
PAGER NOTIFICATION
Input the Pager Notification.
This is not a mandatory field.
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ADMIN
Administrators are generally responsible for managing Companies (The
Wood Products System Admin only), Selling Accounts, Buying Accounts, and
Users.
The Wood Products System Administrators create The Wood Products
System Users and Company Users. Member Administrators may create Users for
their Company only, but may not assign the following User Roles to their
Company
Members: Admin, Trader, or Supervisor.
Administrators also may create and edit Company and Account Profiles, and
Company and Account Contact information.
MANAGE CREDIT
Only The Wood Products System Users may be assigned the Credit Manager
role.
The Credit Manager is responsible for assigning Credit to Companies and
Credit Limits to a Company's Buying Accounts.
TRADER
A Trader can be assigned to Selling Accounts or Buying Accounts.
A Selling Trader will create and submit Offers and accept Bids on Offers.
A Buying Trader will search for Offers and make Bids on Offers.
Both Selling and Buying Traders will manage Sales Contracts and Change
Requests for their transactions.
If Traders are to view Invoices for their transactions, they must be assigned
the "Reports" permission separately for their assigned Accounts.
SUPERVISOR
A Supervisor can be assigned to Selling Accounts and/or Buying Accounts. A
Supervisor may act as "backup" for a Company's Traders.
A Selling Supervisor will supervise Offers submitted by Company Traders. If
a Selling Supervisor needs to be able to create Offers, he or she must also be
assigned the Trader role.
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A Buying Supervisor will supervise Bids submitted by Company Traders. If a
Buying Supervisor needs to be able to Bid on Offers, he or she must also be
assigned
the Trader role.
ACCOUNTANT
The Accountant Role may be assigned to a The Wood Products System User
or a Seller Member User only. The Seller Member Accountant is responsible for
Invoicing.
If a Seller Accountant needs to view Offer, Sales Contract, or Invoice details
once the Invoice has been created, however, they must be assigned the Reports
permission separately for their assigned Selling Accounts.
FREIGHT BOOK
The The Wood Products System Freight Book Editor is responsible for
managing the The Wood Products System Master Freight Book database, and for
importing a Seller Member's Freight Book information into it.
Seller Member Freight Book Editors are responsible for creating and
updating their Mill's Freight Book, and for exporting it to the The Wood
Products
System Master Freight Book Editor.
A Freight Book Editor automatically has access to Freight Book Reports.
However, if a Freight Book Editor also needs to view Selling Reports, he or
she must
be assigned the Reports permission separately.
REPORTS
The "Reports" permission has been separated from the User Roles because
some Members on the Wood Products System will have permission to view Reports
and nothing else. These Users could be The Wood Products System or Company
Executives.
It is recommended that the "Reports" permission be assigned to all Members
on The Wood Products System for many reasons. Here are a few:
Traders assigned the Reports permission for their Accounts will be able to
access their transaction history records quickly and easily, as needed.
If a Selling Trader or Supervisor needs to see the details of an Invoice, he
or
she will need to have the Reports permission in order to do so. The Invoice
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information is only available to Seller Members - other than the Accountant -
through the Selling Reports area of The Wood Products System.
If a Buying Trader or Supervisor needs to see the details of an Invoice, he or
she will need to have the Reports permission in order to do so. The Invoice
information is only available to Buyer Members through the Buying Reports area
of
The Wood Products System.
Supervisors assigned the Reports permission for all of a Company's Accounts
will be able to compare Trader activity on an Account by Account basis.
1 O THE WOOD PRODUCTS SYSTEM TRENDS
The Wood Products System Trends is a separate Market Data application that
is offered by The Wood Products System.
Only a The Wood Products System Administrator may assign this
permission.
Create New Company Pop-Up Help
SHORT NAME
Input the Short Name for the current Company. This Short Name will be
appended to a Selling Account or Buying Account name. It is important that the
Short Name begin with the same letter as the Legal Company Name, and be
similar
to it. For example, the Legal Name for a company is "The Northfield Lumber
Company Limited". The Short Name for the Company would be "Northfield".
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.
LEGAL NAME
Input the Legal Name for the current Company.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 100.
ADDRESS
Input the Street name, P.O. Box Number, or R.R. Number.
This is a mandatory field.
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The maximum number of characters allowed is 50.
CITY
Input the City name.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
STATE
Select the State or Province.
This is a mandatory field.
Z!P
Input the Zip Code or Postal Code.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.
TELEPHONE
Input the telephone number for the current Location in any of the common
1 S telephone formats, such as 555-555-1212 or (S55) 555-1212, for example. If
there is
an extension number, you may input it after the telephone number, such as
"ext.254".
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.
FAx
Input the fax number of the current Location in any of the common formats,
such as 555-555-1212 or (555) 555-1212, for example.
This is a not mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.
E-MAIL
Input the e-mail address of a Contact at the current Location in the following
format: johndoe@lumbercompany.com. E-mail addresses are not case-sensitive.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 100.
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Create New Buying Account Pop-Up Help
ACCOUNT NAME
Input the location where shipments will be delivered. The Account Name will
be joined with the Company Short Name to generate the Seller Name. For
example,
the Legal Name for a company is Northfield Lumber and Panel Company Limited.
The Short Name for the company would be Pinefield. ' The location of the
current
Buying Account, or the location where this account would like its lumber or
panel
delivered, is Plattsburgh. Therefore, the Buyer Account Name will be Pinefield-
Plattsburgh.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.
GS T#
If you are a Canadian Dealer, input your Company's GST Registration
Number. This will appear on the Invoice.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
Note: Canadian Dealers who input an HST Registration Number do not need
to also input a GST Registration Number.
QST#
If you are a Canadian Dealer in the province of Quebec, input your
Company's QST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
HST#
If you are a Canadian Dealer in the Maritime Provinces, input your
Company's HST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
MAJOR HUe
Select a Major Hub for the current Buying Account. Major Hubs currently are
large US and Canadian cities.
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This is a mandatory field.
MINOR Hue
Select a Minor Hub for the current Buying Account. If the Buying Account
location is not itself a Minor Hub, select the Minor Hub closest to it. If the
Buying
Account is a Reload Center, select the Minor Hub for the Reload Center.
This is a mandatory field.
RAIL CARRIER
Select the Rail Carrier that provides access to your location.
This is a mandatory field.
SOURCE
access.
LIMIT
IS USED
Select the Company whose Credit Limit the current Buying Account rnay
Input the dollar amount of Credit assigned to the current Buying Account.
The Credit Used amount is the amount of a Buying Account's total Credit
Limit currently tied up in transactions. These transactions include:
1. Active Bids
2. Outstanding Invoices.
The Credit Used amount is incremented when an Invoice is paid in full, and
when an active Bid is not accepted by a Seller, or when it times out.
RATE
Input the Transaction Fee Rate. This is the percentage agreed upon between
The Wood Products System and the Company, such as "0.5" percent.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 6.
TAx ~
Input the name of the first tax the current Company must charge for goods.
Input the first tax rate. For example, the first tax a company may charge on
goods is
"New York State" tax. The rate could be "7"%.
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These are mandatory fields.
The maximum number of characters allowed for a tax name is 20. The
maximum number of characters allowed for the tax rate is 6.
TAx 2
Input the name of the second tax the current Company must charge for goods.
Input the first tax rate. For example, the second tax a company may charge on
goods
is "Federal" tax. The rate could be "8"%.
These are mandatory fields.
The maximum number of characters allowed for a tax name is 20. The
maximum number of characters allowed for the tax rate is 6.
TAx 3
Input the name of the third tax the current Company must charge for goods.
Input the third tax rate. For example, the third tax a company may charge on
goods is
"Goods & Services" tax. The rate could be "5"%.
These are mandatory fields.
The maximum number of characters allowed for a tax name is 20. The
maximum number of characters allowed for the tax rate is 6.
LUMBER
If the current Buying Account will be trading in lumber, check this box.
A Buying Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.
PANEL
If the current Buying Account will be trading in panel, check this box.
A Buying Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.
PAYMENT TERMS
There are three Buyer Payment Terms available on The Wood Products
System currently: 1% 10 Days, Net 30 Days, or any other terms set up by The
Wood
Products System Administrator.
These checkboxes are both checked by default. This will allow Buying
Traders associated with this Account to determine, on an Offer-by-Offer basis,
what
payment terms are desired.
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If you wish to allow only one Payment Term for this Buying Account, you
may click in the check box of the Payment Term you do not wish this Account to
have, in order to "deselect" it.
This is a mandatory field.
PAYMENT PROCESS
Select the Payment Process by which your company will be paying The
Wood Products System for lumber and panel shipments it purchases over The Wood
Products System.
This is not a mandatory field.
1 O BANK NAME
Input the name of the US Bank associated with the current Buying Account.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 50.
BANK NUMBER
1 S Input the bank number of the US Bank associated with the current Buying
Account.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.
TRANSIT NUMBER
20 Input the Transit Number of the US Bank associated with the current Buying
Account.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 10.
ACCOUNT NUMBER
25 Input the current Buying Account's US Bank Account number.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 20.
CONTACT NAME
Input the name of a Contact at the US Bank associated with the current
30 Buying Account.
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This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 60.
CONTACT TELEPHONE
Input the Telephone number of a Contact at the Canadian Bank associated
S with the current Buying Account.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 25.
Create New Selling Account Pop-Up Help
ACCOUNT NAME
Input the location of the Mill associated with the current Account. The
Account Name will be joined with the Company Short Name to generate the Seller
Name. For example, the Legal Name for a company is Northfield Lumber and Panel
Company Limited. The Short Name for the company would be Northfield. The
location of the current Selling Account is Albany. Therefore, the Seller
Account
Name will be Northfield-Albany.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters
GST#
If you are a Canadian Mill, input your Company's GST Registration Number.
This will appear on the Invoice.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
Note: Canadian Mills who input an HST Registration Number do not need to
also input a GST Registration Number.
QST#
If you are a Canadian MiII in the province of Quebec, input your Company's
QST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
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HST#
If you are a Canadian Mill in the Maritime Provinces, input your Company's
HST Registration Number. This will appear on the Invoice.
This is not a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 30.
LUMBER BAR CODING
Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to bar code a
shipment of lumber (per MBF).
If your Mill bar codes its lumber free-of charge, input $0 as the Bar Coding
Charge.
If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in
the US$ column.
If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in
the CDN$ column.
I S This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in
this field, such as dollar signs or commas.
PANEL BAR CODING
Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to Bar Code a
shipment of panel (per MSF).
If your Mill bar codes its panel free-of charge, input $0 as the Bar Coding
Charge.
If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in
the US$ column.
If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Bar Coding Charge in
the CDN$ column.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in
this field, such as dollar signs or commas.
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LUMBER TARPING
Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to Tarp a
shipment of lumber (per load).
If your Mill tarps its lumber free-of charge, input $0 as the Tarpfing Charge.
If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Tarpfing Charge in
the
US$ column.
If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Tarpfing Charge in
the
CDN$ column.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in
this field, such as dollar signs or commas.
PANEL TARPING
Input both U.S. and Canadian dollar values your Mill charges to Tarp a
1 S shipment of panel (per load).
If your Mill tarps its panel free-of charge, input $0 as the Tarpfing Charge.
If your Mill does not deliver to the US, input $0 as the Tarpfing Charge in
the
US$ column.
If your Mill does not deliver to Canada, input $0 as the Tarpfing Charge in
the
CDN$ column.
This is a mandatory field.
The maximum number of characters allowed is 4. Do not enter punctuation in
this field, such as dollar signs or commas.
TRADE LUMBER
If the current Selling Account will be trading in lumber, check this box.
A Selling Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.
TRADE PANEL
If the current Selling Account will be trading in panel, check this box.
A Selling Account must check one or both of Trade Lumber or Trade Panel.
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PAYMENT TERMS
For the present time, the Seller Payment Terms will be 1 % 15 Net 30 for all
Seller Members on the Wood Products System.
ERROR MESSAGES
COMMON ERRORS
II I IIII~~ I
- i w ~ i~ ~~ ff
LOG ON ERRORS:
"Failed to log You have input i Click on your
on. either an browser's
Make sure your incorrect user ; Back button to
Log name or return to
On Name and incorrect password.~ the Lo On a e.
In ut
i
Password are correct." your correct User
Name
and Password. If
you
have forgotten
what
they are, contact
a The
Wood Products System
Administrator.
"Failed to log You are suspended.~ Contact a The
on. Wood
Make sure your I Products System
Log
On Name and , Administrator.
Password are correct."
"Failed to log You have locked Contact a The Wood
on. ~
Make sure your yourself out by Products
Log I
On Name and inputting the wrongSystemAdministrator
i to
Password are correct."User Name and/or "unlock" you, and
reset
Password more times*your Password if
than allowed by necessary.
the
system (*as
determined by a
The
Wood Products System
Administrator).
"EXCHANGE 1S The Wood Products Attempt Log On
at
CLOSED..." System is not currentlyanother time.
available for trading
or
other activities.
CHANGE PASSWORD
ERRORS
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CA 02343901 2001-03-13
WO 00/16232 PCT/US99/21008
I ~I I
~i
"'ailed to change You have entered Click on your browser's
an
password. Reason: incorrect CurrentBack button to return
to
Incorrect password."Password. i the Change Password
page. If you are
logging
on for the first
time,
input your User
Name
as your Current
Password. Then input
a
New Password.
"Failed to change You have input 1 Click on your
the browser's
password. New and Confirm Password i Back button to
Confirm passwords incorrectly. return to
! the Change Password
are not the same." ~ page. Input the
New and
Confirm passwords
again. Make sure
they
are exactly the
same.
"Confirm New You have forgotten( Click on your
to browser's
Password: Requiredinput your New Back button to return
to
value is empty." Password a secondthe Change Password
time to confirm. page. Input the
New and
Confirm passwords
again. Make sure
they
are exactly the
same.
"New Password: You have input ~ Click on your
'xxx' an browser's
is not a valid invalid password.Back button to return
to
password." the Change Password
page. A Password
must
have at least one
alpha
character and at
least
one numeric character.
"Failed to change You have selectedClick on your browser's
a
password. Reason: password that Back button to return
has been to
Choose a password used recently. the Change Password
different from page. Input a New
previous 10 Password that is
', passwords." different from your
previous 10 passwords.
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CA 02343901 2001-03-13
WO 00/16232 PCT/US99/21008
"Failed to ch , ~, ~ ;
ange , our passwor Cllcx un your vrowser
is not s
i password. Reason:I the required Back button to return
The length as to
password length I determined the Change Password
must by the
be greater than I Wood Products
'x' System page.
Input a New
j (system setting)."' Administrator.' Password that is
at least
' as many characters
long
as the set minimum
_ ____~_- _~_ _~. __
len th~
g '
__
NOTIFIC:~TIUNS
j ERRORS
"No messages have You have clicked' Click olc and select
on a i'
been selected." I the Clear buttonMessage by clicking
in
without selectingthe check box in
a the '
" ~ Notification right column of the
Message.
Message Line. Then
j
select the dear button.
I
_ _ __I j
.
~ '-."-____.~__._...-_
C O M P A \ 1. . _ _...____._._.__._
A C C O U N T , _
USER, A\D CONTACT
F O R Nt E R R O
R S
"Log On Name (or A mandatory fieldClick oK and return
any has to
other mandatory not been selected.~ the field that
field t or if requires a
~ name): Required it is an input selection. Select
value ~ text field, an item j
is empty." a name has not v or enter the information
been
entered.. and resubmit your
form.
Mandatory field names
have an asterisk
beside
' them.
"Error: Failed to You have enteredClick oK. Enter the
save ~ an
the User Record. incorrect Mastercorrect Master Key
~ Key
Reason: Invalid code. v code and resubmit.
~
Master Key."
"Reason: Required You have not v Click olc. Enter
I entered a a reason
value is empty." reason for suspending,and resubmit.
i
I unlocking, activating
j after suspension,
or
deleting a User before
j you selected the
! Confirm button.
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CA 02343901 2001-03-13
WO 00/16232 PCT/US99/21008
~ "Failed to deactivate~ You have tried
the to . Click on
your browser
s
delete a User.
Account, Back
button to return
to
User/Account/Companor Company who
i y. Reason: You has the previous
may page. Wait
not been suspended
for v for 24
hours, and then
not delete a user at least 24 hours.delete.
unless
it has been suspended
for 24 hours."
"Failed to delete You have enteredClick on your browser's
the an
account. Reason: incorrect MasterBack button to return
Key to
Invalid Master code. I the previous page.
Key." Enter
I the correct Master
Key
code and resubmit.
i
i
TEIe Woon PRODUCTS
51'STE~t SETTINGS
ERRORS
-.._ __~...-__-____....~___._~.. _ _.____.~
The Wood Products
System Settings
error
messages provide
a The
Wood Products System
Administrator with
the
solution. They
fall into
three categories.
An
~ example of the
three
error messages
follow.
CDN Exchange Rate:You have entered' Click oK. Enter
! an an
'xxx' is not a invalid ExchangeExchange Rate using
valid ~
j number." ~ Rate. You must i numerals only and
enter
only numerals, ~ resubmit.
no
punctuation or !
alpha f
characters. No I
decimals, no '
dollar
signs.
"The CDN Exchange You have entered! Click oK. Enter
a a CDN
Rate should be CDN Exchange ~ Exchange Rate that
greater I Rate is
~
I than 0." that is less j greater than 0.
than 0.
"The CDN Exchange You have enteredClick otc. Enter
a a CDN
Rate should be CDN Exchange ~ Exchange Rate that
less Rate is less
than 10." ~ that is greater i than 10.
than
CA 02343901 2001-03-13
WO 00/16232 PCT/US99/21008
. III
s o ~le ~ I ~!
~~
i AUDIT REI ORT
ERRORS
i "Start Date mustYou have selected
be an ! Click oK.
Select a new
i earlier than End Date that ~ Start Date and/or
End is End
Date." earlier than ~ Date.
the Start
Date. ~ i
I
i
_ __ _ _ _ __ t
UPLOAD FREIGHT i
BOUK ERRORS
"Filename: RequiredYou have forgottenj Click oK. Enter
a name in
' value is empty."to input a name ' the "File to Upload"
in field
the "File to I and click Upload.
Upload"
field before
you
clicked the Upload
i ~ button. i
"xxx": This file You have selectedi Click oK. Select
cannot a a valid
~ be found. Make file or path ~ file or path and
sure that does resubmit.
the correct path not currently
and exist.
filename are given."
I
i
MAJOR/MIIVOR HUBS ~ _
E R R O R S
"Major Hub Name: You have not I Click oK. Enter
Required value entered a name in
is a name in the i the Major Hub Name
Major field j
empty." Hub Name field. j and resubmit.
"Minor Hub Name: You have not I Click oK. Enter
entered a name in '.
Required value a name in the the Minor Hub Name
is Minor
I empty." Hub Name field. i field and resubmit.
__, _.
FREIGHT BOOK REPORT
ERRORS I
i "Start Date mustYou have selected~ Click oK. Select
be an a new
earlier than End End Date that I Start Date and/or
is End
Date." earlier than ! Date.
the Start
' ~ Date. i
_.___.- i I
_. ~ i
TRANSPORT TYPES
The following is a summary of the new list of transport types The Wood
Products System has added to the database.
;_
CA 02343901 2001-03-13
WO 00/16232 PCT/US99/21008
Note: It is understood that The Wood Products System is not sure that all
types across North America are currently known, nor the rate differences
between
say a 52' car and a SS' car. The Wood Products System is considering hiring
freight
consultants to provide The Wood Products System with a short synopsis of the
rail
system and rate structure.
RAIL
SD Box
DD Box
50' Box
52' Box
60' Box
50' BH (bulkhead)
52' BH (bulkhead)
52' A-Frame
55' A-Frame
53' NBH (nonbulkhead)
55' BH (bulkhead)
5T BH (bulkhead)
60' NBH (nonbulkhead)
60' Centrebeam
60' BH (bulkhead)
60' A-frame
66' BH (bulkhead)
71' A-frame
73' A-frame
Trucks
T/L
B Train
Super B
Closed Van
3 Axle
Pig Vans
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GLOSSARY
This glossary is a list of definitions and terms used in the documentation for
The Wood Products System.
Active offer - An Offer placed on The Wood Products System for Buyers to
register Bids against. The Selling Trader who submitted the Offer to The Wood
Products System must be logged on to The Wood Products System in order for a
Buying Trader to Bid against an Offer.
Application - Software that does relatively complex tasks, searching, sorting
and storing information.
Browser - The application used to access and read the World Wide Web. The
Browser supported by The Wood Products System is Internet Explorer version 4.0
and higher.
Bug - A mistake or unexpected occurrence in the function of the software.
Buttons - An outlined area on the page that you click on to choose an action.
I S Common buttons include oK, cancer, ~e~ete, save, and submit.
Gertit'icate - An internal security check ensuring the individual logging on
is
actually who they say they are.
ci,eckbox - Used to turn on an option. Click once in the empty checkbox and
a check mark will appear. Click again to remove it.
ciicic - Press and release the mouse button. To click on something, position
the mouse pointer over it and then click.
dose Box - A small box with an x inside, usually in the top right hand corner
of a window. Clicking on the X will close a currently open window, or the
Browser
application itself.
Crash- A problem that causes the program or the operating system to stop
working.
Double-Click - Position your pointer and quickly click the mouse button twice
without moving the mouse. You can double-click to open applications and
documents.
prop-down sox - A box with a scroll bar that lists all items in one category,
for
example species of lumber. Also called a list box or selection list box.
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Fieias - Areas where information can be selected or entered. For example, on
an Offer form, the space where a species of lumber can be selected is a field.
The
space where the FOB Mill Price can be entered is also a field.
Hung- When The Wood Products System is inactive. A problem causes the
program or operating system to stop working.
icon- A small picture that represents access to more information. Click it
once to select it. For example, at the Sales Contracts area of the Wood
Products
System Web site, the red arrow represents that a Trader has not yet viewed a
Sales
Contract.
Internet - An electronic connection to other applications or information. This
can include any locations connected to it around the world. This is also
called the
World Wide Web. The Wood Products System Web site is an Internet application
in
that it can be accessed by the public. However, the public can only view
general and
con-confidential information, and not participate in trading.
1 S ntranet - An electronic connection to other individuals or information
within a
restricted boundary. This can include other locations of the same company. The
Wood Products System Web application is an Intranet application in that The
Wood
Products System allows only those who have become The Wood Products System
Members access to it.
t_ist Box- A box with a scroll bar that lists all items in one category, for
example species of lumber. Also called a drop-down box or selection list box.
t_ock - When a User enters an incorrect password more than the allowable
# of times, they become locked out of The Wood Products System and unable to
function. The User then must contact either their Member Administrator or the
Wood
Products System Administrator to reset their password.
t.og on - The steps required to gain access to the application.
jog off - The steps required to exit the application.
nnaster Key - The code required to delete a company from The Wood Products
System, and to assign The Wood Products System Administrator and Credit
Manager
permissions to a User.
Mouse - The pointing device supplied with the computer. Moving the mouse
will move the pointer.
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Navigation Bar - The bars at the top of the screen used to navigate through
the
Wood Products System application. In the Wood Products System application,
there
are three navigation bars.
The top navigation bar consists of index tabs, which take users to general
areas of the Web site. These areas include Buy, sen, operations, Reports, The
wood
Products system Trends, and Directory. Their assigned roles and permissions
determine
the tabs each Member will see.
The lower navigation bar consists of pages available within each of the
general areas. For example, the Buy area includes the following pages: search
Lumber
Offers, Search Panel Offers, Monitor Bids, and Sales Contracts. The pages each
Member
will see are determined by their assigned roles and permissions.
The bottom navigation bar allows The Wood Products System Members to go
Home, to get On-line Help, to go to The Wood Products System Trends, or Log
Off The
Wood Products System.
operating System- The software that runs the computer itself.
Page - The display of information on the terminal screen. It could also be
referred to as window or screen.
Password - The code required to enter The Wood Products System.
Pointer - The small arrow on the screen which is moved using the mouse.
Program - Another word for software.
Radio Buttons- One in a group of buttons that can be selected. When you
select one radio button the others are automatically deselected.
Refresh - The page or screen is updated with the latest information. The Wood
Products System has been set to automatically refresh certain pages. For
example,
2~ The Wood Products System will refresh the Monitor Offers page every three
minutes. However, a Member may also request to refresh the page manually. To
refresh a page manually, click on the right mouse button and select Refresh
from the
floating menu.
The Browser also has a Refresh button. However, with the Wood Products
System application, if you click on the Browser's Refresh button, the entire
Web site
will be refreshed, and you will be automatically returned to the Home page.
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Scroll Bars- A rectangular strip appearing on the right or bottom edges of a
window. Use the scroll arrows or scroll box to move through the contents of
the
window.
Software - Instructions that tell a computer what to do.
system - The Wood Products System application.
Tab - The area on the top navigation bar which looks like the tab of a file
folder. It takes users to the main areas of the Wood Products System Web site:
Buy,
Sell, Operations, Reports, The Wood Products System Trends, and Directory.
Template - An electronic copy of a Web page form. It is saved to allow
repeated use.
Tine ear- A horizontal strip across the top of the window that contains its
name.
webmaster - One who is proficient in creating or changing applications used
by the World Wide Web.
web Page - When logged onto the World Wide Web it is the page or window
visible on the screen. Usually one page has access or links to other pages.
window- A rectangular area on the screen which has a title bar, and scroll
bars.
world wide web - An electronic connection to other applications or
information. This can include any locations connected to it around the world.
This
is also called the Internet.
Conclusion
The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides extensive
computerized assistance for trading in a cash market for commodities. Such
assistance is not provided by prior art systems.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with
reference to specific embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that
various
modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the
broader
spirit and scope of the invention. The specification and drawings are,
accordingly, to
be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
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